The Marauder's School Years: Year Two
by AlbusSeverusPotter7
Summary: They're back! Lily, James, Sirius, Demi, Remus, and Peter are in their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and things are not as the seem. Follow the six of them (and some recurring characters) as they find out the secret that one of them has been keeping to them self.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this entire chapter is split into seven parts. The first is Lily, then Severus, then Demi, then James, then Remus, then Peter, and finally Sirius. There are breaks in between like this, and the title in the middle is the name of the character. It is all the week before September 1****st****. **

Lily

"Just one more week!" Lily squealed as she crossed off another day on her calendar. The walls on her side of the room were plastered with photos both muggle and wizard. She'd added many of the ones Demi had duplicated for her from the photo album that Sirius had given her. She looked at the nearest one. It depicted Demi, Kiaria, and Alice all during the winter break. The snowy grounds of Hogwarts, as well as the frozen over lake were in the background. She could see her three friends waving back at her, their hair flying over their faces. She waved back and settled down. He bedroom door was thrown open, and Petunia marched in, her salmon pink nightgown on.

"Sorry for calling you a freak," mumbled Petunia.

"Oh Tuney, it's okay. Do you forgive me?" asked Lily. From the day she'd arrived home, Petunia had been acting horrible to her, and even worse to Severus. Lily had felt terrible. Severus was already used to being bullied by the boys in Gryffindor house, but to be bullied while on summer vacation. Well, that just didn't sit right with Lily. Lily had yelled at Petunia, causing the poor girl to run and tell their parents, who stated that Petunia was in the wrong. After that, Petunia had decided to be ever-so-mean to Lily and made it her life's mission to make sure that her sister's visits home were as terrible as possible.

The problem was, Lily thought that she was in the wrong, and made sure to apologize for nothing whenever she got the chance. In Lily's eyes, she was the one that was being horrible.

"No, mum and dad just said I have to say sorry. It doesn't necessarily mean that I meant it," she sniffed.

"What?" said Lily faintly.

"Oh you heard me. I don't want to forgive you. You're a freak and you always will be. I'm glad I'm normal. At least I'm not the burden on this family."

"What? Who thinks I'm a burden? I'm a witch, that's all. Maybe if you spent one day with me, you'd learn that it's not a disease and that I'm perfectly normal," said Lily, reaching out for her sister's hand.

"No" said Petunia, scurrying over to the door, "We all know you're the burden on this family. Think about mum and dad, they have to hide your condition from the world." With that, Petunia closed the door.

Lily stared at it for a moment (and not for the first time), wished with all her heart that her sister would throw the door open and hug her. She wished that she was never a witch at all.

Severus

"I don't care, the boy's a nuisance" said a gruff voice form the hallway.

"But he's your son!" a woman's voice cried, "Tobias, he's your son as well, and he needs to have a father to look up to. Tobias- get back here." She said.

Severus looked up and heard the loud thud of the front door being slammed shut. He got up off of his bed and ran to the window in his room. He could see his father's long, black coat in the lamplight swishing in the wind, as he turned at the end of the street. Severus looked up and say the half-moon looming over Spinner's End. He wished that he was back at Hogwarts, the Gryffindor's pranks were preferable to the treatment he'd been getting form his father for the past seven weeks. His mum had to keep on taking Severus out to prevent his father form yelling at him and occasionally, his father would pack his trunk and walk out on the pair, not returning for days or weeks at a time.

"Severus?" said a small voice.

He turned around and saw his mother's pale face, her stringy hair flat on her head. She open the door up fully, and walked over to him, smothering him in a hug. "I love you mom."

"I love you too, sweetheart," she mumbled back.

"Does dad hate me?" Severus asked, his eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"No, he's just . . . not used to wizards, that's all" she said.

Elieen Prince sat down on her son's bed looking at him. "When do you want to go get your school stuff?" she asked.

"Lily and I planned to go to Diagon Ally on Wednesday. Will dad be joining us?" he asked.

"No, I believe your father is very busy, but I'd be more than happy to come with you," said Eileen.

"M-kay" mumbled Severus.

"My, my, look at the time. We should be going to bed, shouldn't we?" said his mother, smiling at her son.

"Just one more story, mum, please?" Severus begged.

"Of course- what'll it be today?" she asked, pulling out the hidden copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_.

"_Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump" _replied Severus, the corners of his mouth turning up. His mother smiled down at him and began to read, soon they both forgot all of their problems as they delved into the magical world.

Demi

"Is that it?" Demi said, pointing to the tall tower in front of them.

"Yes" replied Dumbledore, and they entered the base. "Many people don't know this, but the CN Tower is held up by magic, otherwise it would have toppled over ages ago."

"You sound like a tour guide" Demi replied smiling. She was hoping to see her Uncle Aberforth, but realized that the odds of Aberforth and Dumbledore trying to get along, especially in such an enclosed environment brought her back to reality. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just apparate to the top?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. But how do you think these poor muggles would react if they saw us magically appear at the top deck?"

"They'd be suspicious" she replied.

"Indeed," responded Dumbledore. The war hadn't affected anything in North America, just the fact that some Wizarding families in Europe had decided to move over to this hemisphere. Not that she could complain, from her point of view, the war was getting worse. They went through Canada in 3 days, apparating to Niagara Falls, the Calgary Stampede, and Banff Hot springs (Dumbledore looked quite funny relaxing in the springs with his silver beard flowing in front of him like soap). Demi picked up various objects for each of her friends, she'd tried to send Lily and owl, but the distance meant it wouldn't reach there until the end of the week. The rest of the vacation passed off in monotone, but on the last day before September 1st, something happened.

Demi woke up and felt a very peculiar tingling sensation on her arms, she went over to her mirror and looked at them. They were covered in red patches. She rushed into the kitchen, where she saw Dumbledore reading the Prophet. "Urm, professor? My arms are kind of messed up" she said timidly.

"We're on the summer break, you can still call me Dad," Dumbledore replied, taking hold of her arms. 'Ah yes, this is another stepping stone from that little issue we had last summer. Don't worry, it's to do with the . . . thing. It should go away in a few hours or perhaps a couple of days."

Demi nodded her head, and went back upstairs to get ready. "I don't know how much more of this I can take" she sighed looking down at her arms. _I wonder if I should tell my friends, _Demi thought. But then she thought better of things, _Dumbl- I mean Dad- said not to tell anyone, I shouldn't go worrying them. _She left it at that and continued on with her routine.

James

"But mum, nothing will happen! I guarantee it" James whined.

"Remember the last time you said you'd guarantee something? You fell and broke your leg. Do we need a repeat of that incident? Hmm?" Amie replied, as she chopped up breakfast at the table.

James looked at his mother from across the table, and nodded his head. He was going to miss his parents when he left for school the following morning, and was trying to enjoy every last minute of him being with his parents. His father walked in, still in his night clothes. "What's for breakfast?" he asked Amie, looking at the bowl in front of his wife.

"Pancakes" she said, and she saw the smiles on her husband and James' face, "with fruit" she added, and laughed as the smiles disappeared.

"James wants to go play Quidditch later on" Amie said to her husband.

"Really?" said Jack, "Well, I believe that we'll be able to get a few matches in before we start getting him packed for school, because, we both know he hasn't done that."

James turned red, "Okay as long as . . . "he was cut off by a puff and bang coming from the Potter's living room. They ran into the room and saw the fireplace blaze green. James shielded his eyes and when he turned back, there was a tall, skinny, grey haired man in the middle of the room. The man walked over to Jack and whispered something in his ear, making his father go pale.

Jack turned back to James, bending down to see his eyes, "I think I have to take a raincheck on that Quidditch match, James. Urgent business" he exchanged a dark look with his wife, "You'd better come too, Amie."

She nodded her head, and turned back to her son, "We'll try and be home as soon as we can, for now, and Tingle will help you pack."

James watched as his parents flicked their wands and changed into their robes. They stopped as they passed him, and gave him a kiss, before following the man into the fireplace. Before leaving his mother looked back at him, her red hair flowing back behind her, "Be safe" she said. With a loud whoosh, she was gone, leaving James alone with his house elf, on his last day before school.

"Love you" mumbled James, looking at the fireplace.

He felt a tug on his sleeve, turning back he saw Tingle smiling at him, "Your parents are the best Aurors there are, they'll come back safe and sound." With that the two trudged up to James' room so he could pack.

Remus

"Yes mum, I've got everything" said Remus exasperated.

"But do you have your cauldron?" said Rhea.

"Yes" said Remus.

"Parchment?" she asked.

"Yes" replied Remus.

"Quills? Ink?" she inquired.

"Yes and yes" was his monotone response.

"What about your books?" she inquired.

"Er . ." Remus stuttered.

His mum tossed a brown, wrapped bundle to him, "knew you would forget something" she said, walking over and ruffling his hair.

"How on earth do you know that?" he laughed.

"My mum senses were tingling" she smiled, kissing the top of his head.

His father walked in, his hair streaked with grey, "have you got everything?" he asked, smiling.

"Not again!" Remus groaned, causing his parents to laugh.

"Have you made sure that the . . ." his mother asked his Tiberius.

"Yes, spoke to Dumbledore this morning, he said it's still in great shape, and they managed to repair some of the damage." He looked at his son, who was gazing down at the ground, clearly unhappy. "It's our choices that count more than our afflictions."

Remus looked up, "I understand."

Peter

"Okay, my boy. You ready?" said Carlos.

"Yes dad" replied Peter, tucking the last of his stuff into his trunk. "Where's mum?" he asked.

"She's just coming."

Peter heard his mother coming up the staircase, her heels clicking away. Peter would miss that sound. It reminded him that he was at home, with his family, people who genuinely cared about him. His mother's head appeared through the door way, "Peter, are you all packed?" she asked.

"Yes mum" he replied.

They left the house to go visit his grandmother in Wister shire. Both of his parents looked back at him before stepping through the fireplace, "we'd better not get another owl about you playing a prank this year' his dad said.

"Or else" his mother added, her face cracking into a grin. Holding both their hands, they stepped into the fire.

Sirius

A loud screech was heard from the kitchen. Sirius paced the length of his room and back, finally conceding defeat, he flopped onto his bed. He pressed his palms into his eyes and said calmly, "I'd like to be let out now." No response. He got up and paced again for another 5 minutes. He'd been locked up in the room for about 3 hours, with nothing to do. It got to the point where he had actually done his summer homework, but his mother hadn't broken him yet. He could hear the conversation in the room underneath him; his brother's. Ever since Sirius had gotten home, his family members, save for Regulus had been treating him like scum. His brother was now the pride and joy of the family, while Sirius was left alone, all the time. He tried to send owls to his friends, one in particular. But seeing as he was confined to his room, whenever he made a comment on the family's customs, he wasn't able to be downstairs long enough to do so. He laid down on the floor, pressing his ear into the wood. He could just make out the words being said through the thick mahogany.

"He's a disgrace, don't you dare speak to him while at school. Do you understand?" said Walburga.

"Yes, mum" mumbled Regulus.

Sirius heard a knocking noise at the door of his brother's room. He could hear his mother move to open it and then, all hell broke loose.

"Hello dear Bella, how are you?" said Walburga.

"Just fine. How is everyone?" said Bellatrix in a soft, graceful voice. Sirius wanted to laugh. Bellatrix, his cousin, was his primary tormentor. She took pride in using him as bait to practice jinxes and curses while she was at Hogwarts, luckily for him, she had left the year before he had started. Ever since they were kids, Sirius could not wait to get his hands on a wand. Although it didn't seem like it, Sirius was anxious to learn. He always wanted to know how to do things himself, then and only then, would he be able to escape this hell-hole his family called 'home'.

He could hear Bellatrix say, rather loudly, "Andromeda has gone and married that Ted Tonks, the muggleborn."

"NO!" screamed Walburga, and she wrenched the door open, storming down the staircase. A few seconds later he heard a loud bang and a sour laugh coming from the first floor. Sirius sighed, he knew what that sound meant. His mother had gone and burned a hole through the tapestry of the family tree. It was one of her favorite pastimes. In fact, when Sirius had gotten back on the first day of school, his mother had threatened to blast him off of the wall unless he followed the family customs._ Customs, _he thought. The word that had plagued his childhood. When he was being raised his mother, father, and a majority of the family (also known as the ones who were still on the bloody tapestry) would teach him and his brother about the Black Family beliefs. Many of them surrounded the same thought and ideas that Lord Voldemort himself believes. As he was reflecting on the countless beating she received as a child from standing up or the muggleborns, he heard the door of his room fly open.

"Well, well. If it isn't my itsy bitsy baby cousin, Sirius the third," cooed Bellatrix.

"I've had enough of your bile, away with you" he yelled to her, still lying on the ground, daring her to jinx him.

"Aww, are you angry? Upset? Scared? My you are an idiot, thinking that muggleborns would care if you stood up to them. Your mother was telling me about your latest comment, on . . . what was it? Muggle rights? My dear cousin, are sure you're even a Black at all?" she jeered.

Sirius got up and picked up a chair, throwing it at his cousin, who flicked it away with her wand. He picked up a jug and threw it against the wall over her head, showering her with water and glass. She merely tapped her wand on her head, and she was dry. "I don't care about being a Black! We're all just bloody humans, we're all equal!" he shouted at her, throwing things around. "I don't want to be a Black. I don't want to be here!" he covered his ears and screamed to the top of his lungs, "LEAVE ME ALONE."

Bellatrix laughed as Sirius broke down, he was after all mentally, physically and emotionally broken, her favourite kind of victim.

Sirius jumped for his wand on his bed. But Bellatrix (who had years of experience in dueling) was too fast. She shot jinx after jinx at him until he ran directly at her, weaving through the flying colours. He knocked her over and ran out of his room. He'd nearly made it to the front door when he heard his mother.

"You bastard of a son, get back here NOW!" she screamed.

Sirius picked up the troll leg umbrella stand and chucked it at his mother head, she quickly cast it aside and yelled _incarcerous_. Sirius felt the ropes wrap around his body. He tried to run but the ropes around his legs were too tight. He fell down at his mother's feet. He looked up at her and in a flash, he was back in his bedroom once again. This time, he was in shackles, with no wand, bruised and somewhat bloody. He looked up at the ceiling of his room and screamed. He heard his mother laugh with glee.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own, any of the stuff (except for Demi and Kiaria). All the rest belongs to the wonderful and talented Joanne Rowling, whose written works have graced us all.**

**So, this next scene takes place on Platform 9 ¾ when they are all on their way to Hogwarts.**

The first of September rolled around and the students were somewhat excited. Lily and her parents (her sister went over to a friend's house as she couldn't stand being in the same house) arrived at the station at 10:45. She walked towards the barrier, her teeth chattering. Demi had sent her a few owls here and there, but Lily wasn't sure where Demi would be, so she didn't know whether some of her letters had reached her friend. She'd tried to send letters to Alice and Kiaria, but she wasn't able to figure out how to get muggle letters to a wizard household. She said goodbye to her parents and pushed her trolly towards the barrier, and felt her muscles tense up, even though she knew the impact would never occur. A second later the entire scene changed, and she saw other students, and in the scarlet red train. She looked around before spotting a blue-haired someone poking their way through the thick crowd. A moment later, Demi emerged enveloping Lily in a huge hug.

"How are you?" she screamed over the crowd.

"Excellent. You?" replied Lily.

"Had the best summer ever!" said Demi, her voice simply filled with glee. "I'll tell you about it on the train. Do you know where the others are?" tiptoeing to look over the crowd.

"Erm, I see Kiaria and Alice!" Lily squealed, rushing over to hug her two other friends.

"How's everything?" asked Alice, polite as always.

"Good, how about you, Kiaria?" replied Lily.

"A bit better, but I've some bad-ish news to tell you lot when we get on the train, and believe me, it will not be pleasant," she said solemnly.

"Oh," the other three replied.

"I thought I saw my Crayolas" said a boy's voice from behind them. Demi felt herself being swamped in a huge hug from Remus, James, and Sirius. Trailing behind them were Peter and Frank.

"Ow, let go of me!" screeched Lily from the other side, apparently they had caught her too. Sirius let go of his bear hold on Demi and asked, "How're you? I didn't get a chance to owl you all summer."

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, how are you? I sent you five or six owls and you never responded to a single one of them?" Demi replied, smiling up at her friend.

"You-you did?" Sirius asked startled.

She nodded her head. "I see you've grown about 3 inches and 5 centimeters." She added, looking him up and down.

"I see you haven't grown at all," he replied back, doing the same. "How do you have such an accurate measurement?"

"What can I say, I have good eyesight. Now we'd better get on the train or risk being left behind," she replied, dragging him by the arm to follow the others. She didn't know why, but she had a gut-feeling that Sirius was being kept away from his letters. She never wanted to say anything, but Sirius' shirt sleeve and rolled up ever so slightly and she could see some bruises, burns and scratches on his forearm. However, she knew that he wouldn't want everyone to know of his personal affair, but made a mental note to ask him about it when they were alone.

Lily got up after 20 minutes of being in the same compartment as Sirius and James. "I'm going to go find Sev, I'll catch up with you lot later." James looked somewhat put off by her sudden desire to go see his arch nemesis and began having and animated discussion with Peter, Frank, Alice, and Kiaria.

"Oh yeah, that's what I have to tell you guys," shouted Kiaria at the top of her lungs, causing everyone else in the compartment to jump.

"What?" said everyone else.

"So you know how I live in Wales, ad their aren't very many wizards there." Everyone nodded and she continued. "Well apparently, there was a small wizarding family that lived a little ways from us, the . . . McKinnons." A few of them looked down sadly.

Just then Lily came in and sat down next to Kiaria, "I couldn't find Sev, but I heard you talking outside, please continue."

"It was around 2 in the morning and my parents go to called in by the Auror's office."

"What's and auror?" asked Lily.

"Dark wizard catcher," said James, "my parents are aurors too." He nodded for Kiaria to continue.

"So, they apparated straight into the McKinnons' house, and they saw about 7 death eaters there. They managed to incapacitate about 2 of them but there were only 4 aurors, including my parents. So, one of the McKinnons, I think she's around our age, managed to male it out of there, but her parents weren't so lucky." Everyone looked down at this.

"Do you know-?" asked Lily.

"No I don't know why they were attacked, I think it's because the parents, who were really high up in the ministry didn't join you-know-who's ranks," stated Kiaria. "Atleast, that's what my parents said one of the attackers said."

"Who was the attacker," asked Peter.

"Some woman named Lelatrix, or something," said Kiaria, waving his question away.

The glass Sirius was holding shattered, "Bellatrix?"

"Yeah, that's it," said Kiaria, slapping her forehead. "Wait how do you know her?"

He looked down, his eyes a darker grey than usual, "she's my cousin."

Demi looked up at him, and he suddenly shot up, opened the compartment door, and left. Demi, looked over at the others, and signaled to them not to follow him. She stood up and went after him, closing the door as she went.

"Have you noticed she's always protecting him?" asked Peter. The others looked at him. Only he would think about something so unrelated at a time like this.

Demi found Sirius on the back edge of the train, where the balcony was. She knew children weren't supposed to be here, but she realized how calming I was, looking out at the fields of grass zipping by them. Sirius was looked down at the rail, almost as if he longed to dissolve into it. Demi put her hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm not going to say that I'm sorry. Nor am I going to apologize for you family's behavior." She pulled up his shirt sleeves and examined his arms. She pulled out a vial of a clear substance and rubbed it in his arms and then waved her wand, causing the bruises, cuts, and burns to dissipate. He looked at her and she continued. "However, I will say that I am sorry that you had to be born in their family. But I have a piece of advice for you. I don't care what you are, a Black or not. It's because you're you that we are friends, well, that and a giant pillow." He smiled down at her. "Just because you have a bad family, doesn't mean that you have to be like them, you have a choice, just like any other person in the world. It is our choices that determine who we truly are, far more than our abilities."

They stayed out there until they saw the turrets of Hogwarts atop the mass of trees around them. Just as they were about to leave, Sirius stopped Demi and said, "Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own, any of the stuff (except for Demi and Kiaria). All the rest belongs to the wonderful and talented Joanne Rowling, whose written works have graced us all.**

**I split this up, to show what was going on in Sirius' compartment with the guys, and Demi with the girls. Keep in mind that these conversations happen at the same time.**

Sirius and Demi made their way back to the compartment, neither of them realized it, but that talk at the back of the train changed everything. Sirius, who had never had anyone care about him, felt closer to Demi than he ever had before, and felt something every time he saw her big brown eyes. Demi, however, felt a though something changed inside of her. Every time she looked at Sirius now, she looked at him, not with pity, but with pride. He faced so much, especially at such a young age. She also felt a little different about him. They were close friends, but every time she looked into his light grey eyes, she felt something stir in her stomach, she had no idea what it was. Neither one of them knew that the other felt this way.

Demi pulled open the compartment door, as Sirius slid by to the compartment next door, where all the boys were changing. "See you later" she said.

"You too," Sirius replied. Suddenly he felt Demi throw her arms around his neck and give him a bone crushing hug.

"I know that we're stuck in this castle for ten months together, but try and be safe and don't do anything too stupid that could get you hurt, unless I'm there to watch- I mean help," she laughed.

"Shut up," he said, as she let go of him. They both made their way to their respective compartments.

Demi

She slid open the door, and came face to face with the three other girls in their compartment. "Where did you go?" Lily inquired.

"To help a friend" Demi said.

"Are you sure you two are' just friends'"? asked Kiaria smirking at Demi, whose face turned from pale white to light red.

"Yes I am absolutely sure," she said finally. The others let the subject drop as Demi pulled her wand out of the leg of her boots. She waved it once and said _"immutatio."_ Suddenly all the girls were fully dressed in their robes, their other clothes packed away in their sealed trunks.

"How-"began Lily, before Demi raised her hand to stop her.

"I'll explain the spell later." She said opening the compartment to let the guys back in.

Sirius

He just laid his finger on the handle, before someone slid the door open and pulled him in. "What the –" Sirius started.

"Well, what went down?" said James, closing the door behind Sirius.

"Yeah, what happened" said Peter, biting his fingernails.

"Nothing, we talked, that's all" said Sirius as he made to get up off his seat and change.

Frank sighed and pushed Sirius back down while Peter and James, still listening changed into their robes (Remus and Frank had already changed).

Remus sat next to Sirius," do you like her?" he asked calmly but pointedly.

"As a friend, yes, nothing more nothing less. End of topic," and before anyone could interrogate him further, he shot up and began to change.

They changed in silence for a couple of seconds before walking out to join the girls in the other compartment. James when he saw Demi make room for them all, nudged Sirius in her direction, winking at him as he sat next to Lily, who to his shock, got up and sat on the other side of Demi, next to Kiaria.

They had about half an hour before they would get to Hogwarts, so Demi figured it would be a good idea to give them all their presents now, before heading in to the castle and got separated from their trunks. "Hold on, I have presents for you all," she said, _"recludo"_ she mumbled, waving her wand. Her trunk, which was over Peter's head, flew open and a mass of wrapped things flew out onto her lap. She muttered _"occludo"_ waving her wand again and the trunk resumed its original position. Everyone looked at her, open mouthed. "Oh, you all know that I can do magic! And shut your mouths or you'll get flies in them," she laughed as they all mechanically shut their mouths, looking at one another.

"What are these?" asked Lily, picking a parcel up from Demi's lap.

"Erm, I'm not sure what muggles call them, but in the wizarding world, we call them 'gifts'" she said sarcastically, causing everyone to laugh. "I didn't put names on them, but I can guess which one is for which person." She shook a square package and said "Lily, oh and give," she shook another "this to Severus. This is for, Kiaria, here's yours Remus. Here you go Peter, and Frank. Oh, here's yours Alice. One for you James, and here you go Sirius," she said handing them all out.

They all looked at her, holding their gifts in their lap. "Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but in many cases, people open their gifts," and she mimed her head exploding, causing everyone to burst out laughing, and rip the packages open.

"What's this?" asked James, looking at an oddly shaped ball, filled with water and white stuff and a dancing man wearing a cowboy hat, boots, and a holding lasso. At the base, it had a molding of a tower, mountains, a saddle-shaped dome, and the word 'Calgary' on it.

"Oh, that's a snow globe James," said Lily, taking it from him and holding out for everyone to see. "You shake it and the white stuff flies around, like snow," she handed it back to James, who excitedly shook the object and watched with glee as the white stuff flew around. "This is so cool! Thanks Demi."

"Anytime," she said smiling. She had gotten Remus a huge painted plate of Romulus and Remus, which he laughed at and thanked her for.

Lily opened hers next and saw an amazing red and gold necklace. "It's so heavy" she exclaimed as she held it out for everyone to see.

Alice practically tore the paper off of the gift in one go. On her lap fell out miniature replica of the CN Tower. "It's so pointy," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's made out of crystal, if you point it a certain way by a window, it looks like a rainbow," said Demi.

"How?" inquired the others.

Lily jumped up remembering this from one of her muggle classes, "a prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectral colors. Prisms can also be used to reflect light, or to split light into components with different polarizations. Light changes speed as it moves from one medium to another. For example, from air into the glass of the prism. This speed change causes the light to be refracted and to enter the new medium at a different angle. The degree of bending of the light's path depends on the angle that the incident beam of light makes with the surface, and on the ratio between the refractive indices of the two media. The refractive index of many materials (such as glass) varies with the wavelength or color of the light used, a phenomenon known as _dispersion_. This causes light of different colors to be refracted differently and to leave the prism at different angles, creating an effect similar to a rainbow. This can be used to separate a beam of white light into its constituent spectrum of colors. Prisms will generally disperse light over a much larger frequency bandwidth than diffraction gratings, making them useful for broad-spectrum spectroscopy. Furthermore, prisms do not suffer from complications arising from overlapping spectral orders, which all gratings have."

Everyone looked at her, Sirius scratched his head in awe, "my, you muggles are strange" he muttered. Everyone laughed. "Okay, but how do you know this?" he asked.

"Learned it in school, muggle school" she added.

'Okay then," said Frank, who eagerly ripped the paper off of his gift. A pyramid-shaped object tumbled out onto his lap. "He picked it up,' what is it?"

"It's a replica of the pyramid of Giza, in Egypt. All around it there are Runes. The ancient Egyptian wizards used to use them in feasts to communicate with the gods, well, at least that's what Dumbledore told me," Demi replied.

"Well, I like gods . . . so I'm cool with it," he said, laughing.

Kiaria opened hers next. A small marble building was sitting on her lap. "What building is this?" she asked.

"The Taj Mahal" replied Dei. "The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan made it to hold the tomb of his third wife Mumtaz Mahal when she died. It took about 5 years to complete. Some myths say that he was going to build a replica in black marble across the river, but his son dethroned him, and Shah Jahan ended up spending the last years of his life locked up in the Red Fort, in Agra staring out of the window to look at the Taj in the distance. He loved her a lot."

"That's so sweet," all the girls cooed, causing the boys to put their hands in their faces.

James looked at Lily, "You like this romantic stuff?"

"Yeah, it's nice" she replied.

"Great, now I know what I have to compete with," he said, causing everyone to laugh, but Lily to blush as red as her hair.

"Okay, let me open mine next," said Peter, rubbing his hands together. He opened the lid and saw a small replica of the Colosseum. "It's so detailed," He said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I got it from this wizard store and if you tap it with your wand three times," Peter followed her instructions," these Roman soldiers come out and joust." They watched as two men on horses, one in blue, the other in red, came out and began hitting each other with 7 foot poles.

Sirius at this point was very eager to open his gift, but had to wait as Demi took it from him. "I had to shrink it to fit it into my trunk, she explained. _"Engorgio" _she muttered, causing the fat, rectangular box to expand over her and Sirius' laps. "It's your gift and your birthday present in one, that's why it's so big."

Sirius looked at her and said, "Thanks."

"You haven't even opened it yet" she said.

"Good point" he stated, ripping the lid off the box. He moved the tissue paper aside, revealing a big, silver shield, with a scarlet red lion ramped across the top. Underneath, was a long, thin package, wrapped in more tissue paper, Sirius ripped it apart exposing a silver sword, with the words '_vivet anima relinquit vitae' _engraved on the blade. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"It means 'live life before life leaves you'" said Demi. Everyone looked at the two friends, but it took all of their willpower to make sure that they didn't tell Sirius to ask her out. Suddenly they were all shaken out of their reverie.

Severus had swung the door open and it had made a loud thud, causing everyone to jump. "We're nearly there,' he stated, pointing at the window, making everyone turn their heads and gaze at the streets of Hogsmeade whizzing by them. They quickly packed away their gifts, Demi shrank Sirius' so they would fit into his trunk, and they made their way out onto the loud packed platform.


	4. Chapter 4

"They've added more patrollers," observed Lily as they made their way up to the carriages.

"Yeah, well we had a bit of trouble this summer," said Demi as they picked up their luggage. Noticing the confused looks on everyone's face she explained. "While Dumbledore and I were out on vacation, some death eaters made a little visit to Hogsmeade. Naturally, they were caught, they were quite stupid. It was around then that we decided we needed some more protection around the area. Not only for the people who live here but for the school as well."

"How many people did you end up adding?" asked Remus.

"Oh, a few aurors, but a majority of them are people who graduated just last year."

"Anyone we know?" asked James

"Yes, Fabian and Gideon Prewitt, their sister Molly, Arthur Weasley, and Ted Tonks," Demi replied. "In fact, I think that's Fabian right over there" she said, pointing to a tall orange haired man in the distance. "Hey, Fabian!" she yelled, causing the man to turn around and walk towards the group.

"How is our little blue weapon?" he laughed crushing Demi in a big hug.

"Not breathing" she mumbled, causing the others to laugh. "Has Voldyshorts or his little snakes slithered by yet?" she asked, her eyebrow raising. Everyone that heard her remark looked at her, shocked.

Fabian grasped her by the shoulders, lowering himself so they could look in each other's eyes. "Do you've a death wish?" he asked.

"No, I'm just asking a question" she said smiling.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that question in his face would get you killed."

"Aww, I have loads more where that came from. Pity he doesn't enjoy jokes. Perhaps that's why he's so miserable," causing everyone to laugh. "I didn't know asking questions was against the law. I will say what needs to be said, however I want to say it. Understood?" she asked, resting her and on his shoulder.

"Oi, Fabian, get your arse over 'ere now!" came a voice. Fabian gave her another quick hug, whispered something in her ear, that made her go slightly white, and ran off to join the others.

"What did he say?" asked Sirius eyeballing Fabian as he jogs back to the others.

'Nothing, we should get going, the carriages are almost full," she said, levitating everyone's stuff into a nearby cart, and pulling them all in. Her hands were shaking slightly and she looked close to passing out.

Sirius grabbed her hand, peering into her eyes, "are you sure? You look pale as hell."

"Well, hell is a dark place and whatever he said to me is none of your business. If it were, he would have said it louder" she said, pulling her hand away and settling herself between Frank and Remus.

The ride to the school was very uneventful. Every so often the aurors would stop random carriages and check the luggage. After the fifteenth search of their carriage, James was frustrated.

"If we did have a death eater in here, I think you'd be able to tell. Everyone in the bloody carriage would be dead," he fumed.

Remus sighed, "You're not very patient, are you?"

"No" replied James, "I just want to eat. Is that too much to ask?"

"That's something I'd expect Sirius to say," mused Peter, causing the others to laugh.

"Demi what are you reading?" asked Lily, looking over the aisle toward her friend.

"It's a little book about werewolves, just something I found on the seat when we got in," she replied vaguely, continuing to stare in the book. No one had noticed but Remus had gone pale at the sentence.

_What if she knows?_ He mused. He shook such thoughts from his head. _That can't be it. The odds of her knowing about the thing are very small. But if Dumbledore is her father, he may have told her something._ Remus was shocked out of his reverie by the sound of chatter.

"Let's go" said Demi sliding out of the carriage.

"FOOD!" shouted James and Sirius, high fiving one another.

"Honestly" said Lily, "That's the reason you come to school?"

"What other reason do we have? We're already geniuses. The school needs us," they replied.

"Whatever" said Lily, coolly.

They made their way into the Great Hall and took their seats at Gryffindor table. Lily turned around and looked toward Severus at the other end of the hall, she waved at him before sitting down with the others. They watched the sorting until it ended, Gryffindor had snagged up 7 girls and 6 boys. "So, do you think our exams will be harder this year?" she asked. Everyone that heard looked at her, scared.

"Did you just bring up exams?" asked James, shocked.

"We just got here!' exclaimed Sirius.

"Well, it is good to know beforehand," she mumbled, looking down.

Just then Dumbledore stood up from his chair at the front of the hall. "Welcome back to Hogwarts, and for those who have just arrived here, welcome. Now, I understand some of you have wondered why you were searched upon your arrival tonight, "he looked at James who turned red, "and you have the right to know why. The ministry as well as I believe that the school is one of the main areas where the youngest and untrained wizards are. We believe that the death eaters may try to persuade you, the youth of this time, to join their cause. We hope that tonight and every night, you all fight for not only your future, but your children's future as well. We hope that you make the right choice, not the easy one." He noticed the students becoming more solemn, and continued "I understand with that weighing on your mind, you may want to fill yourself up with a different type of knowledge. The knowledge of food." He clapped twice and the tables became laden with heaping trays of food. "Dig in."

Sirius and James piled their plates high, before stuffing their faces with food. Demi looked at them in disgust, "now really, all this food isn't going anywhere, you can slow down."

"Bu f- ewn- g. walum not, wlum not" said Sirius, waving his fork at her, beginning to choke.

Demi pulled out her wand and muttered "_anapneo."_ Sirius nodded his head in thanks. Demi rolled her eyes and continued "I beg your pardon" she said dully.

"I said, but food is good, want not, waste not."

"You need to make a book, 'what men say when their mouths are full of food'" she said, causing them all to laugh.

"You make your on women, we'll make ours on men. Deal?" said Sirius, sticking out his hand.

"Deal" said Demi, shaking it. They finished their dinner, and headed up to the common room. "I'm going to go and change, these robes feel so itchy." She left the others and went back into her dorm. She changed into a pair of jeans, a white jumper, and brown shoes. She pulled her mane of tangled, frizzy dark blue hair into a ponytail and headed back downstairs, settling down on the two seater with Sirius.

"Oh, Sirius, I mean to ask you this. Over the summer, I picked up this book about stars, and there is one named Sirius. Apparently it's the brightest star visible to us on Earth. Do you know about it?"

"Yes, the Blacks name their children after stars, galaxies, constellations" he said, counting them off on his fingers. "I'm the third Sirius in our family."

"So the first one was really boring?" said Peter, who hadn't been paying attention. Everyone began to laugh, when Sirius felt something wet on his hand.

"Woah, Demi, your arm is soaked in blood!" he screamed, getting up and grapping her left arm.

"SHIT!" she screamed, running out of the common room so fast, they didn't even see her.

"Sirius, your shirt is soaked in her blood," said Lily, faintly. The sight of blood always made her woozy.

Sirius shot out of the room and ran up to the hospital wing. He knew she'd be in there, as there was a trail of her blood on the stone floor. He pushed the doors open and saw Demi lying on a bed, in a nightgown, looking up at the ceiling. He ran over and stood by her bed, holding her right hand. "Are you okay?" he asked, clearly concerned.

"Well yeah, if you ignore the fact that my arm looks as though I've been splinched," she said, gritting her teeth.

Madam Pomfrey appeared holding a tray with dittany, a sponge and her wand. "Now," she said taking the sponge and soaking it in the dittany, "this will hurt." She rolled up the sleeve of Demi's nightgown, revealing her arm. It took all of Sirius' strength to stay there holding her hand. Her arm had chunks missing and the arteries were visible, pumping blood onto the bed. Madam Pomfrey dabbed at her arm, causing thick red smoke to rise from the wound. Demi shut her eyes and crushed Sirius' hand tightly. A few minutes later, the smoke cleared and there was new skin weaving its way over the sound. Madam Pomfrey summoned a small phial of the same thick, clear liquid that Demi had used on Sirius. She poured it over the wound and it healed the new skin. The matron wiped her arm with water, and said "You may return to your dormitory if you wish."

"I will" said Demi grabbing her wand from the bedside table and tapping her nightgown, changing her into her regular clothes, minus the blood. She and Sirius headed for the door, before it burst open. Albus and Aberforth were arguing with one another, flames in their normally piercing blue eyes.

"I told you to let me take care of her" said Albus.

"Well you haven't done a very good job of it. We're in the hospital wing, again" replied Aberforth.

"The problem would have occurred anywhere she was at the time. It will never leave" shot Albus, putting emphasis on the last part of his sentence.

"I told you to leave her with me. We can't trust you with people. She'll end up like Ariana" spat Aberforth, causing Albus to go pale.

"No, I won't let it. That wasn't my fault" he said, closing his eyes.

"You won't let it? Why should I believe you? You lie. You've been lying to yourself since she died."

Aberforth walked over to Demi and gave her a hug, before walking out without a word. Demi walked over to Dumbledore and gave him a hug. "It was never your fault. It is Voldemort's. Don't worry, I'll pay him back in the most equal way possible." Dumbledore smiled, the anger leaving his eyes. He gave her a hug and said to the pair "you'd better get to bed, class starts early tomorrow."

Demi and Sirius walked out and headed back to the common room. Before they turned down the corridor Sirius stepped in from of her, "Why do they keep on mentioning the 'problem'" he asked.

"Well, the problem is the thing I told you about last year, and it causes some weird things to happen, like what happened to my arm."

"Who's Ariana?" he inquired.

"Don't ask me about her! That is between Professor Dumbledore and Uncle Aberforth," she said.

"Was the clear liquid-"he started.

"Yes it was the same one I gave you on the train. I got it from Professor Dumbledore in case something like this" she waved her left arm, "ever happened on the train."

"But you used it on me" he said, confused.

"Because, you needed it more than I did. And anyway the 10 minutes of pain I had was nothing compared to the 8 weeks of pain you had," she stated.

"But those 8 weeks were nothing compared to the months you were trapped with the death eaters" he pointed out.

"Can we not talk about that please?" she said, the pain showing in her eyes. Sirius gave in, he knew if he kept it up he'd be risking quite a bit. Demi always let him ask her anything, but he knew when he was going too far.

"What's the password?" he asked.

"Badinkadink" she said, causing the portrait to swing open. They clambered inside, and were instantly bombarded with questions. Sirius pushed through the crowd and helped her to the bottom of the girl's staircase. Demi looked back at the others, who were sitting in the chairs by the fire, she waved goodnight to them. She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck, "goodnight" she whispered and made her way upstairs.

"Goodnight" said Sirius, looking up at the stairs. He turned around and made his way back to the sofas.

James cleared his throat, "so. . . what happened over there?" he said, jerking his head towards the stairs.

Sirius turned red, "don't even."


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight war pouring through the windows the next morning. Lily woke up first, as she always did and made her way to the washroom. She came out ten minutes later, her hair sopping wet, causing the back of her robes to feel damp. She noticed Demi's big spell book lying casually on the dresser in the room. _I wonder if it'll work,_ she thought, referring back to the handy spell Demi had often used to dry things. She walked over and sung the book open. As if it knew what she was looking for, it had the spell, pronunciation, and a small image of what it could be used for. Lily pulled out her wand, and pointing to her head, said "_assicco_."

That's when everything went wrong. Lily felt her head slowly becoming hotter. She ran to the full length mirror by her bed and covered her mouth. Her head was on fire, literally!

She began to scream, jumping up and down. The others woke up suddenly. They took a moment to process the scene. Demi jumped up, grabbing her wand "_auguamenti"_ she yelled, dousing Lily in water. They all stood there as Lily dripped water. "What the hell were you trying to do?" said Demi, laughing.

"I was trying to use that drying charm, but it didn't really work as you can very well see," she said, picking at the strands of her red hair.

"I told you you look like your head was on fire, now you know why" said Demi, shrugging.

The others laughed and got dressed. Before they left, Demi dried Lily's hair and said "If you ever try and use magic again, and that too without my supervision, I swear." She burst out laughing and they walked out of the dormitory to meet with the others.

They interrupted the conversation just as Remus said, "I won't be here next week."

Sirius and James sighed as Lily asked, "why? Is your mother still ill?"

"Er-yeah" said Remus, going red and looking down at the floor.

"Remus, you okay?" asked Demi.

"Yeah, I guess." Remus knew that if they found out about his secret they would all be scared of him. But there was something else as well. He noticed something off about Demi. Her scent, there was something wrong. She didn't smell like the others did. He played his thoughts off and said to the rest, "Let's go and eat before Sirius dies of huger."

His timing couldn't have been more perfect just as a loud rumble emitted from Sirius' stomach. "Hey, my mother doesn't let me have seconds. She barely even lets me have firsts now" he added as an afterthought.

They made their way down to the Great Hall when a bunch of third years walked by. One of them looked over at the group and winked, specifically at Demi. Lily, Kiaria and Alice who noticed the exchange turned around and faced Demi who was chiding Sirius on his eating habits. "Did you see that?" they asked simultaneously.

"Sorry what?" she said.

"Lockhart. Gilderoy Lockhart just winked at you" they squealed.

"Sorry?" Demi said, confused.

"Is she stupid?" asked Kiaria, making Lily and Alice shake their heads.

"Gilderoy is interested-in you!" Lily said.

"Oh, that's . . . nice?" said Demi clearly befuddled as to why her friends were acting like a trio of hyper squirrels.

"Nice? He's the hottest guy in the third year. The fact that he even acknowledged your presence is amazing" said Kiaria.

"Okay, and that is supposed to be a comment?" said Demi.

"Yeah, he's supposedly really thick and he only goes out with certain-" here Kiaria placed much emphasis on the word "girls. And you, dearie are one of them."

"Well, I must admit he is good looking," Demi said, her eyebrows raising.

"Good looking? Love, are you blind? He's about as good looking as a baboon's backside, and believe me a baboon's backside is not a very pretty sight," exclaimed Sirius.

"Relax, would you? I'm not going out with him. I just said he's nice looking. Jeez" Demi sighed rubbing her temples. "I've had enough of this conversation, let's go eat before McGonagall decides that we need detention." She led the way as they continued down to the gold plaited, oak doors.

**Just so you all are on the same page. I've altered some of the characters ages by a few years just so they play into the story correctly. I wanted to have the appearance of Lockhart mostly because after Sirius, he is supposedly one of the other good looking single guys in the series. Just so you know, he's shallow and every bit as annoying in this story as he is in the movies and the actual books.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Here you are, and make sure you don't lose them" said Professor McGonagall, eyeing Frank and Peter, who looked down at their laps nervously. She'd been pacing behind the second years as they ate, chiding them in order to hand them their timetables. She looked over them once again before walking out of the hallway. They continued eating until Sirius, who was the only one still piling his plate with more helpings of pancakes was done.

"Okay, I get that you're a wizard and all, but how do you eat THAT MUCH?!" exclaimed Demi as they made their way to Herbology.

"I dunno, I get hungry sometimes," said Sirius shrugging off the question.

"Sometimes? You're always hungry?" said James, who was practically pulling his hair out at the abysmal equation of his friend's food intake.

"Now you know why I eat so much, because as James so excellently pointed out, 'I'm always hungry'."

James and Demi exchanged an exasperated look before taking their seats. Demi looked around before noticing a seat in the back, she was making her way over before Jennifer, a girl in Ravenclaw house that had never spoken to Demi, pulled her onto the seat next to her. "Hi, I'm Jennifer, you must be Demi" she said, holding out her hand.

"Er-hi" Demi said, taking Jennifer's hand.

"I saw Gilderoy looking at you this morning," she said, as she began taking out her parchment, ink and quill.

"Er-yeah, he was" Demi replied, slowly going red as she began to take out her stuff.

"Let me cut straight to the chase, do you like him?" Jennifer asked, turning around to look Demi in the eye.

"Er- he's good looking if that's what you mean," said Demi, remembering what she said to the others earlier that morning.

"Okay, but do you have a crush on him?" she asked again.

"Yeah, I like him" said Demi thinking that the only way to make Jennifer shut up would be to answer her question with what she hoped was the answer Jennifer was expecting.

"Good. Now let me give you some advice. He's mine. Don't look at him, Don't talk to him, Don't even think about him. I've got dibs. He is MINE" Jennifer said, putting emphasis on the last word.

_Whoa, _thought Demi_ does this girl think I want to date Lockhart? Well, the guy is nice, sweet and what not. He's a Ravenclaw so he must be smart. Even if I do date him, what is it to this girl? _Demi shook herself and turned back to the conversation. "He's not an object, so you can't place dibs on him. Oh, and If I do go out with him, what is it to you? If he liked you then he would have made it clear._" _She turned back to the front of the class and began writing down what Professor Sprout was saying,

The rest of the class passed and Jennifer did not say a word to Demi. The bell rang and Demi began packing her stuff to leave for Charms. Everyone except Lily, who had left with Severus, walked over to her.

"Who was that?" said Alice, pointing to Jennifer's back.

"Some girl that thinks I have it in for her" said Demi absent mindedly.

"Huh?" asked Kiaria.

"She knows Lockhart's been eyeing me and wanted me to back off. She thinks that I want to go out with him."

"Wait, what?" said Sirius, his mouth dropping open.

Kiaria looked excited, "do you want to go out with him?" she asked.

"Well, I've spoken to him a couple of times and he seems really nice. I guess I'd like to go out with him," Demi said, as they made their way to the third floor charms corridor.

"Hold on," said Sirius clearly shocked. "Lockhart. Gilderoy Lockhart. You want to go out with him?" he asked.

"Yes Sirius," said Demi with an air of patience.

Sirius pushed past her and grabbed James, pulling him down into a seat at the back of the class. Demi turned around and looked at the others who just shrugged their shoulders. They sat down and began listening to Professor Flitwick talk about the _Skruge _charm.

"According to Miranda Goshawk, this is one of the many ways of cleaning ectoplasm" he began in his high voice. The class continued taking notes on the _Skruge _charm, _the Wand-Lightning _Charm, and the _Severing _Charm.

The note taking and what not continued until the end of the day, until the nine second years made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. Sirius was still not on speaking terms with Demi, who at this point was confused at Sirius' behavior.

"Sirius," she said.

"Sirius," she repeated.

"Sirius, are you going to be like this the entire day?" she asked.

Clearly Sirius was not going to respond. Demi, who became infuriated made to get up before a boy from the Ravenclaw table stopped her. "Erm- Demitria?"

"Yes?" said Demi, still eyeing Sirius.

"Um- it's Gilderoy" said the boy.

Demi's eyes quickly snapped up to the boy's face. "Oh, er, hi" she said.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing you?" she replied rather quickly.

"Not much." There was a pause before Gilderoy continued, "I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you around" said Demi faintly as Gilderoy nodded and walked by with the rest of his friends. She turned back and looked at the back of Sirius' head. He was stabbing at his steak with a fork. She looked at the rest of the group and said, "See you later."

**Interesting . . . . . . . . . . **


	7. Chapter 7

"Does he know you like him?" asked Kiaria.

"I don't know, and if you don't mind I'd rather not fail the quiz tomorrow because of your being a distraction" chided Demi. Her friends, not to mention other people who noticed what was going on between her and Gilderoy were beginning to pester her. Just on the way to Transfiguration two third year Hufflepuffs pulled the poor girl aside and interrogated Demi on her relationship with Lockhart. Remus noticed Demi's predicament and made it his duty to save her from probable embarrassment.

"Hey, Demi, I have your notes," Remus called out. He pushed his way through all the other students and nudged the two Hufflepuffs away.

"God bless you Remus John Lupin" said Demi, putting her face in her hands. "I can't even convey how much I love you right now," she said, giving him a hug. The door of the classroom swung open and the students poured in.

An hour and a half later, the class ended and they made their way up to the common room (they had an hour before dinner). They headed up to the common room to get a head start on the mountain of homework they'd been assigned in the afternoon. It was all quiet for about 10 minutes until Kiaria piped up.

"Okay, back to the question I asked before, do you like Lockhart?" Kiaria asked.

Demi slammed her quill down, "Okay that is it. This question has been after me like the bloody plague. If I answer the damn sentence, can you let it lie?" she said. The three girls and the five boys nodded their heads simultaneously. "Okay, I like him. I will ask him out, as long as you lot bugger off when it comes to the topic. Okay?"

"Okay" they responded. Demi sat back down at the table, picked up her quill, and acted as if the entire show hadn't occurred. They sat there until the rest of the Gyrffindor's began to leave. They packed away their stuff and joined the mass of students making their way to the Great Hall.

"So you actually like this guy?" asked Sirius for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day.

"Yes" said Demi with an air of finality in her voice. Sirius said no more on the matter and went to sit with James, Peter, Frank, and Remus.

"So Remus, the dates for tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team are up, it's the seventeenth of September, so next Friday. What do you say, want to practice with Kiaria, Demi, Sirius, and I," asked James.

"Erm-no. I have to visit my mother that weekend," he said rather gloomily.

The others weren't sure whether to cheer Remus up. "Is your mum getting better? asked Demi timidly. She knew that Remus could get a bit upset when his mother and her illness was mentioned.

"Uh, yeah she's getting there, but it's a slow process," he said busying himself with the mashed potatoes.

They left it at that and continued eating dinner. About twenty minutes: before they were expected to go back to the common room, Professor Dumbledore stood up and made an announcement.

"Now, it has come to my attention that certain students have been attempting to touch the base of the Whomping Willow. Now I assure you that the tree will not get up and move as the rumors have suggested," he looked in the direction of the second year Gryffindors. "However, since some students have taken the game too far, we have decided that any student to come within a twenty meter radius of the Willow, will have an automatic detention with their head of house for two months." The entire hall groaned. "Furthermore, there have been a number of Death eater attacks within the past week and a half. The bodies of four wizards, seven witches, and a family of 5 muggles have been discovered. Let us take, not a moment of silence, but a moment to realize that united we stand, divided we fall. Now that is all, off you go. Pip pip."

The Gryffindors made their way up to bed, leaving the group of second years in the common room.

"So how is the war effort going?" asked Frank.

Everyone looked at him.

"Demi?" he asked.

"I don't even know. I'm stuck here aren't I?" she sighed.

"Well, look at it this way, when we graduate and are old enough, we can help," said James.

"If Voldyshorts hasn't killed everyone by then" she replied. The wizard-raised shuddered.

"Why do you feel so comfortable saying You-Know-Who's name?" asked Frank.

Demi burst out laughing, causing the others to jump. "Well, I never felt uncomfortable using the name. In fact, that's not even his real name. But that's beside the point. He's a person, fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."

"But still-" Lily began.

"It's unsafe? You think he'll get me? Again?" Demi threw her head back, laughing. But this time, she laughed bitterly. "He already got me once, and we saw how that played out. I'm here and, well, kind of unscathed. But really, how much worse could my life get?" she asked.

The others had nothing to say to this, and they made their way to bed, silently.


	8. Chapter 8

The week went by, and before they knew it, the tryouts for Gryffindor's Quidditch team were underway. Demi, James, Sirius, and Kiaria had gotten up at about 5am. The four of them got dressed in their regular clothes, grabbed their broomsticks, and headed down to the pitch. Everyone was pumped, save for one person.

"I didn't know that being good at Qudditch required one to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn," Sirius yawned, as they made their way down the grassy slope towards the pitch.

Everyone laughed. "Well, we could always" she mounted her broom, "fly to the pitch."

The others watched as she kicked off the ground, shooting straight up into the air. She swung the broom around and pointed it down to the ground. She descended, completely vertical.

Sirius watched in awe as she streaked towards the ground, his mouth open in horror. Demi went faster and faster. But just as they though she was going to hit the ground she pulled herself horizontal and was an inch close to impacting the ground with full-force.

"Jesus, do you want to die?" screamed Kiaria, running over to where her friends was sitting atop her broom.

Demi laughed, "Oh relax, would you?" She dismounted and they continued walking down to the pitch where they practiced for half an hour.

James and Kiaria practiced their positions as chaser, while Sirius picked up a bludger and beater's bat. Demi pulled out her snitch and began testing her reflexes. They worked on their various skills, commenting and giving one another advice as the training wore on.

They headed back inside at 6:30 and went to go take a shower. They were the only ones up so they came back into the common room, each nervous for the afternoon. They made small talk when they heard someone coming down the boy's staircase. Out emerged Remus.

"Hey you lot, how was practice?" he asked, settling down on the armchair.

"Good" the other said.

"When are you heading home?" asked Sirius.

"Uh, at around 1 in the afternoon. Why?" he responded.

"Nothing, just asking," said Sirius.

They sat around waiting for the others and then made their way down for breakfast.

"Hey, what class do we have now?" asked Remus.

"Defence" replied Lily, checking her timetable.

They shoved the rest of their food down and made their way to the third floor. Severus was already in class, pulling his stuff out. The Gryffindor's watched as Lily walked over and sat next to him Sirius and James sat together in the middle, with Remus and Demi sitting in front of them. The Defense teacher this year (they changed every year, rumor was, the job was jinxed), Professor Burlough walked in, tapping the projector as he went.

The projection depicted a picture of a wolf and a man, with an arrow in between the two. Demi pulled out her books and looked over at Remus. She raised an eyebrow, the boy was pale, sweaty and when she reached out to touch his hands, she could tell they were cold and clammy. Remus jumped when she touched him, knocking over his ink pot.

"You alright?" Demi asked, concerned for her friend's well-being.

"Oh, yeah, fine. I'm fine," he replied, nervously preparing his parchment and quill.

He remained silent as Professor Burlough began the lesson. "Today we will be examining the properties of werewolves. Now, who can tell me the difference between and animagus, a werewolf, and a wolf?"

Demi raised her hand, "an animagus is an animal that elects to turn into a wolf. They use magic and their own will to do so. A wolf is a naturally-born creature of the wild, like a dog. A person with the affliction hasn't the choice to turn into a werewolf. With each full moon they transform into this creature. They do not remember who they are. They'd kill their best friend if they stood in their way. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind," she finished.

A loud howl was emitted from the back row, where David Argueta a Slytherin, was sitting with his mates. Everyone began to laugh.

Professor Burlough, shook his head and looked back to the projection. "Ten points for Gryffindor. Now, tell me," He began, indicating the projection which was now showing an animation of a man turning into a werewolf, "although the people who possess this illness mean no harm. What are the possible ways to distinguish a werewolf from a real wolf?"

Lily raised her hand, "they can be distinguished from other wolves by the shorter snout, more human-like eyes, the tufted tail and their mindless hinting of humans whilst in human form."

"Excellent, another ten points for Gryffindor," said Professor Burlough, beaming. " Now, although many of you would realize that this lesson isn't at the second year level, Professor Dumbledore and I have decided that it is for the best that you all get a feel of the types of lessons you will learn in the future defense classes. We've also been discussing the changes your classes will undergo as you move from beginner, that is to say year's one and two, to the harder parts of this course." He stopped for a moment, letting his words sink in.

Demi raised her hand, "but sir, this is defense against the _dark arts_. Werewolves aren't dark creatures. It's simply an ailment."

"Yes dear, but the ministry has categorized werewolves as a known wizard killer and cannot be trained or domesticated. It is not up to the wizards and witches to decide," Professor Burlough finished.

The lesson continued on as Professor Burlough taught the class about Pixies, Kappas, and Knarls. It wasn't until the end of class when Remus' colour changed back to normal.

"Hey, Remus. You seem a bit down," observed Peter as they made their way to Transfiguration. He was right. Remus hadn't said a single word and was constantly bumping into things as his eyes were downcast.

"Um, I'm good. Just . . . tired" he said, yawning.

"Oh, okay," said Peter, sharing a look with the others.

Remus was glad when they reached Transfiguarion. Everyone loved the class, so it gave him a chance to relax before the interrogations continued.

Professor McGonagall entered the class, her usual emerald green robes trailing behind her. She slid her books onto her desk and pointed her wand at the chalkboard. "Today we will be learning how to change animals into water goblets. Follow this" she walked towards her bird, a raven and flicked her wand three times, "_vera verto._" The class watched intensely as a jet of crystal clear mist shot from the tip of McGonagall's wand, engulfing the animal and quickly morphing it into a goblet with a whooshing noise.

"Now," she began as the entire class shifted to write their notes, "this spell is moderately difficult to perform and disastrous should you get it wrong. Remember wand movement and posture are both critical to the charm. To perform the spell, one must tap the targeted animal three times sharply with their wand and then point their wand directly at the animal, and say clearly _Vera Verto."_ She let the class finish their notes and copy the diagrams before saying, "I have taken the liberty of having each of your own, personal animals delivered to the class and you will practice the spell on them. If you happen to get it wrong, raise your hand and I will undo the spell."

The class waited as each animal was unleashed in the room. The owls immediately flew to their rightful owners, landing on their arms. People who didn't have any animals were given ravens. The class waited for McGonagall's say-so, "you may proceed."

Immediately the class began practicing. Remus watched as Demi, who was sitting beside him tapped her snowy white owl three times and said _"vera verto." _He watched in awe as the same mist flew out from Demi's want, turning her owl into a crystal goblet. Demi picked it up and held it to her ear "Nope, no hooting so I think I did it right." She gave it to Remus, who was sitting there with his mouth open.

"Well done, Miss Dumbledore, 5 points for Gryffindor" said Professor McGonagall, giving Demi one of her rare smiles. She turned around and observed the rest of the class.

"Remus, aren't you going to practice?" Demi asked, watching her friends inspect the goblet with a bemused look on her face.

"Oh, yeah" he said, putting her goblet down. He turned his attention to his raven and tapped the bird with his wand three times, _"vera verto." _The bid shrank but instead of the goblet becoming crystal, it came out as steel. "What the?"

Demi picked up her wand and pointed it to the steel goblet on Remus' desk. "_Finite"_ she muttered, restoring the raven to its original state.

"Thanks" he said. They continued practicing until everyone (save for Peter) was able to perform the spell with moderate results.

The bell rang and the second years made their way up to the common room (it's a Friday, and they always have Friday afternoons off), to relax before tryouts for the team. Demi, Sirius, James, and Kiaria watched as Remus packed up a little bag, to visit his mother over the weekend.

"We'll send you a letter and tell you what happens" said Lily as they sat with Remus while he waited until the clock struck 1.

"Thanks, good luck you guys. I hope you all get in" said Remus, picking his stuff up and heading for the portrait door. The others watched as he clambered out and the door shut behind him.

"Every month," said Demi shaking her head.

"Huh?" asked the others.

"No, it's . . . nothing," she replied.

"We should probably get ready and head down to the pitch," said Kiaria, heading up to get her broom.

"Yeah, we don't want to be late, seeing as the tryouts start in 2 hours," said Sirius, looking up at the gold lion-shaped clock on the far side of the room.

"Well, I want to get a bit more practice in, excuse me for trying to get on the team" she said making her way upstairs.

"That's actually not a bad idea,' said James, standing up.

"Eh, we might as well go with them," said Demi, looking at Sirius who nodded his head.

"Are you guys going to come and watch?" said Sirius, looking at Peter, Frank, Lily, and Alice.

"Depends do you want us there?" asked Lily.

James jumped in front of her, "hell yeah we want you there. Go get ready," he said pulling her off of the sofa and guiding her to the base of the girl's staircase.

"Alright I'm going, "Lily grumbled, making her way upstairs.

James watched her until she closed the door at the top, before turning back to the others. "Let's go get ready then, shall we?" he beamed, practically prancing to the boy's staircase and going up the steps, two at a time.

The others stood there watching James until he too, vanished into the boy's dormitory. They looked at one another before bursting out laughing. They clutched at their sides, making their way to their rooms.

-*-"Okay," said a tall black girl, facing the Gryffindors, " Split yourselves up by positions. Seekers here, Chasers there, Beaters in the middle, and Keepers in front." She waited as bodies shifted to the designated locations. "My name is Anna Faris and I am this year's Gryffindor Quidditch team Captain. I am a chaser, so there are only two spots left. Now, I am going to test out the Keepers first, while getting the possible chasers to score. Whichever Keeper blocks the most goals gets the position. While keeping score I will also be monitoring the chasers and their moves. Then I will set up trials for the beaters, and last but not least, trials for the seekers, understood?"

"Yes Anna" said the group.

Demi and Sirius sat on the ground with the other beaters and seekers as they watched Kiaria and James. The aim for the chasers was to try and get the keepers off of their game. Kiaria managed to score 7 out of 10 of the goals she was given. When James went he managed to get all ten goals, while also leaving the 5th year keeper flustered. They waited another 20 minutes while the other candidates tried out and waved as Kiaria and James made their way over to them.

"How do you think we did?" they asked.

"I'd say you did pretty good Kiara. James, nice work" said Sirius high fiving his best friend.

They sat there for a moment before Anna called out, "Beaters please."

Sirius shot up and Demi tossed him his bat and broom. "Good Luck Sirius!" they said.

Sirius tottered towards the line of Gryffindors trying out for two positions. "Now," began Anna, "this trial is a pretty straightforward one. I will place you all into groups of four. Take a colored flag and ties it to the end of your broom. Now, the objective is to attack players on all the teams besides your own. Whichever two people knock out the most people get the position of beater. Ready?" she asked.

"Of course your majesty," came Sirius' reply, bowing to the tall 5th year.

Anna laughed at the second year's act and said, "alright then, ready set, go" and she blew her whistle.

Everyone below watched in awe. There were probably twelve people trying out for beater, and there were four bludgers flying around. Within the first ten seconds five people had already fallen. Eventually it got down to Sirius, a blond boy in his third year, and a girl in her fourth year. Sirius swooped around dodging bludger after bludger. He managed to knock out the other boy, who fell to the ground in a heap and within another twenty seconds of intense flying, he knocked the girl off of her broom with a well- aimed bludger.

Anna blew her whistle and Sirius zooming down, landing right in front of Anna. She smiled and said, "good job."

"Thanks," said Sirius turning around and walking straight towards the others, playing it off coolly. It was when he got to them that he dropped his beater's bat and broom and squealed, "I'm a shoe in!"

"Seekers please," came Anna's voice. Demi shouldered her broomstick, barely hearing her friend's wishes. "Now, the seekers will be paired up and you and your partner will face-off, only you and them on the pitch. Whoever gets the snitch the fastest is automatically in."

Demi watched while Anna paired everyone up. It came down to Demi and she was paired with last year's seeker, Andrew Tanner. Andrew was Gryffindor's best seeker and hadn't lost a game since he joined the team in his second year.

"Hi punk" said Andrew standing next to Demi, who was just up to his shoulders.

"Hi" replied Demi, a fierce look in her eyes. They waited as pair after pair went onto the pitch. When it got to their turn, the time they had to beat was three minutes exact.

Demi could feel her heart pounding as she mounted her broom. She waited and waited until she heard the sound of Anna blowing her whistle.

Demi kicked off the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

Demi could feel the wind rushing through her hair. She stopped her broom, level with the stands. She could feel Andrew hovering somewhere over her. The whistle blew again and she knew that the snitch had been released.

"You alright, little 'un?" she heard Andrew say.

She ignored him and scanned the pitch. The snitch was small and tiny but with her keen eyesight she knew she could find it. She flew off and looked at her watch that she had set up to beep after three minutes. She ignored the cheers and taunts from the people on the ground. Demi remained determined to find the snitch.

She looked down at her watch, 30 seconds had passed.

_Okay, don't panic, just look. _She closed her eyes and began flying off in a random direction. _Just stay calm, I'll find it_ she thought.

Her eyes flew open as she saw a golden blur fly across the grass of the pitch. She did what she had done that morning and pointed her broom straight down, perpendicular to the ground. She looked to the right and saw Andrew coming alongside her.

He turned and smiled, his pearly white teeth blinding her. "Doing alright now?" he taunted, giving her the middle finger.

She turned her head back to the ground and saw that she was two feet from smashing into it. She pulled out, her broom skimming the ground. She heard the gasps of shock from the people waiting. Smiling she looked behind her and saw Andrew following. CLOSELY.

She swerved to the side to avoid the goalpost and Andrew did the same. She pulled her broom up and she went flying into the air. Closing her eyes she could hear Andrew right behind her. _So you're following me_ she thought. She opened her eyes and checked her watch, one minute had gone by.

She closed her eyes and moved in a random direction and opened them again. She saw the golden blur fly right past her face and began to chase it.

She didn't pay attention to where it was going but only where it was at the time. She nearly smashed into another goal post, dove into a crowd of spectators, and had to perform a sloth grip roll, to prevent herself from smashing into another post. She looked down and saw that she was about 1000 feet off the ground. Looking forward she saw it. The golden snitch.

She stretched her arm out, her fingers a couple of centimeters away from the snitch. She could hear loud breathing and saw Andrew pulling in next to her, his arm sticking out, trying to swat her's away.

"Think you're going to win?" he asked.

"No, I know I'm going to win" she replied. She felt Andrew begin to bump in to her, trying to knock her off balance. He moved farther away, and came back in forcefully. He did this three more times, moving father away before hitting her again.

Demi looked to the right and saw him move 5 feet from where she was, his biggest hit yet. She prepared herself for impact. He came at her. Fast.

_One, two, THREE. _

Using all her body strength, she pushed herself off her broom, and felt Andrew's body slide under her. She pushed herself off his back and dove forward, her hand outstretched.

She felt something cold and metal touch her left palm and she wrapped her hand around it. She fell forward, bracing herself for impact. She looked down and saw her falling under her feet. She turned herself around, head first, and made a grab for her broom.

She felt the handle with her right hand and pulled herself onto it. She looked down and saw that she was 5 feet from the ground. She pulled the broom parallel to the ground and zoomed straight to Anna. Demi stopped about a foot from where the shocked fifth year was standing and hopped off her broom. She stuck out her left hand and showed Anna the snitch sitting in her palm. "Here you go."

Anna shook herself out of her reverie and said, "that was amazing, two minutes, exact. You're in."

"YES!" squealed Demi running towards her friends. She made a beeline for Sirius, practically throwing herself at him.

"I did it, I did it" she said.

"I know, good job love" he whispered in her ear.

They broke apart and Demi began hugging Kiaria and James. "I'm in."

"No way" they heard.

Andrew was walking towards Demi his wand pointed at her. "That wasn't fair."

"Actually that was," said Demi, pulling out her own wand and pointing it at Andrew's head. "I won because I knew I would. Perhaps you should have stuck to finding the snitch rather than trying to anger me just so that you could use my frustration to win. Very bad tactic."

"You weren't even on your broom, that's not allowed" he spat.

"Technically, I am allowed to do that. As long as I'm airborne it counts, and last time I checked, I was."

"She's right" said Sirius, stepping up beside her. "She was practically flying, running on air."

The three of them looked towards Anna. Anna walked towards them, "I'm sorry Andrew, but they're right. Demi was airborne. She's in. I'm sorry but it's fair and square."

Everyone watched as Andrew threw his broom to the ground and stalked off. Anna turned to Demi, "sorry about that. He's really full of pride. He hasn't been beaten in years and I guess the thought of a second year beating him at his own game is too much for him to handle."

"S-alright, I love a little competition," said Demi, smiling.

Anna smiled back, "well then, seeing as your officially on the team, I guess loving competition is a good this for us."

Anna turned back towards the group of people on the pitch. All of the spectators in the stands had come running on to the pitch as well. "_Sonorous"_ said Anna, "I will have the official list of all the members of the team up in half an hour. Good day to you all."

The mass of red and gold moved to the doors of the pitch.

Lily, Peter, Alice, and Frank made their way over to the four hopefuls.

"Demi, you scared the hell out of me!" said Frank, giving her a hug.

"Well, I do try" she said sarcastically pretending to be flattered, causing the others to laugh.

"So what do you think? You made it?" said Lily.

"Well, Demi is a cert," said Sirius," and I think I may have a shot."

"I think I did well," said Kiaria, hoping she didn't jinx anything.

"Well I know I was amazing," said James.

"Yeah, whatever inflates your ego more, Potter" said Lily, turning on her heel, and walking away from the group.

"What was that about?" said Sirius, turning to James.

James' mouth was hung in a comical "o" and he mumbled, "huh?"

"Well, I think she thinks you're a bit vain," said Demi.

"Me? Vain? Never in my life-" James started.

"That's just it. Never in **your **life. That's what sets her off. It's quite understandable," said Demi.

James rounded on her, "do you think I'm conceited?"

"Yes, sometimes," Demi said.

"What!" said Sirius and James, clearly outraged.

"Well you asked and I answered. Truthfully," she said.

"Whatever, I'm getting hungry, let's go and eat" said Sirius, walking briskly in the direction of the castle.

"You're **getting** hungry?" said Demi, outraged.

"Mate you're always hungry" said James as he and Demi ran towards their friend.

The rest of the group caught up and they headed in for a nice, warm supper.


	10. Chapter 10

The chaos ensued the moment the second year's entered the Great Hall. The Gryffindor's that had been booing her twenty minutes ago were not congratulating her on her success.

She and Sirius quickly ate their breakfast, and headed up to the common room for a shower before getting a start on their homework.

"You did really good" said Sirius proudly.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't taught me how to do a proper Sloth Grip, my face would have a cylindrical dent in it," she laughed.

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?" said a voice from behind.

The two of them turned around and were blinded by the pearly whites of one Gilderoy Lockhart. "I saw your tryout, you were on fire" he said.

Demi was about to respond before Sirius pushed her out of the way, "thanks for the comment, but flattery will get you nowhere," he said, pretending to blush.

Demi tried to apologize for Sirius' behavior, but before she could, Sirius had dragged her up the next three flights of stairs. It wasn't until they got to the common room that Demi rounded on Sirius. "The hell was that?" she said furiously.

"What was what?" he replied smirking.

"Oh you know what I mean. You completely got in the way of Lockhart t praising me," she said.

"Oh, I thought he was talking about my wondrous performance as beater. I guess you did okay," he said, shrugging.

"But-you just said- I did great" Demi spluttered, getting furious.

Sirius leaned on the frame of the boy's staircase, watching his friend go red. _Oh, this is too funny_ he thought. "You did do great, I just don't like it when someone else praises you. That's my job."

"Huh?" she said. "Since when did someone else praising me become a problem?"

"Since Lockhart started fancying you" he said dully.

"Oh, because someone fancies me. What a load of bull. It's because no one has been praising you!" she said acidly. Neither of them had noticed but the other second years hand clambered in through the portrait hole and were watching the row.

"Hold on now," began Sirius hotly.

"No. You're just angry because there isn't anyone here to inflate your ego. That's right, isn't it?" she spat.

"Oh, so my ego is the problem, is it?" said Sirius, going red in the face.

"Yeah, yeah it is. It gets in the way of EVERYTHING" said Demi.

"You're right. I hate it when people praise you," said Sirius, confirming his friend's suspicions.

They began walking towards each other, their faces set. Demi's hands were curled into fists, while Sirius was pulling out his wand. Just before they met, James grabbed Sirius from his shoulders, and Frank wrapped his arms around Demi's waist preventing her from going any further. The two 'friends' eyed each other before pushing their anchors away and heading off to their respective dorms.

Lily, Kiaria, Alice, Peter, Frank, and James just stood there and watched as the two friends exited the room. "What was that?' said Lily.

"I know" replied Kiaria, sitting down on the sofa.

"What was what?" said Peter, sitting down and nibbling his fingernails.

"Did you not see that?" said James, jumping around.

"See what?" said Peter.

"They were going to rip each other apart!" said Frank, sitting down in the armchair. Kiaria and James left the others in the dorm to go take a shower. The others were left wondering what made the two good friends turn on one another.

**Boy's Dormitory: Sirius**

_I can't believe she said that to me. We're friends, and anyway it's not like she's so perfect. She's got that whole messed up past and what not. She's an orphan. She doesn't even have a family. Bet her parents hated her. Stupid idiot, _thought Sirius stepping into the shower. He let the water run down his skin, soaking in the event. _She doesn't even care that my family hates me. It's always about her. Her and Dumbledore, her and her past, constantly. It's her ego that's the flipping problem. Not mine. She's too bloody proud. _He turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing his towel and drying himself off. He got dressed and went into the dorm. He toweled his hair dry and tossed the wet rag onto his bed.

"Hey" said James, pulling the towel off his head.

"Oh, sorry didn't see you there. Would expect to, that is my bed," said Sirius.

"Well, I don't know why you're so mad at me. I didn't do anything," said James, getting up and moving to his bed so Sirius could sit down.

"Well, that bi-" began Sirius.

"It might interest you to know that that whatever you were going to say is a very dear friend of mine," said James smiling.

"Well she said my ego is huge, and it gets in the way of everything. As if her ego isn't huge," said Sirius, fumbling with the lid of his trunk.

"It is huge, so is mine. We could make a club and ask her to join," said James laughing. "But anyway, her ego is huge, I know that, we all know it, hell she knows it too" said James, pleased to see that his friend was beginning to smile. "I'm just asking, but what was the fight about?"

"Lockhart," was Sirius' reply.

"Oh," came James' voice. He walked over to where his friend was sitting on his trunk and sat down next to him.

Sirius laughed. "What?" said James.

"It's just. Whenever I'm angry or upset this is where I come and sit. Normally Demi would come and sit with me but, I guess she can't exactly help in this case," Sirius said.

"Well, wait until I have a shower and we'll go to the common room and get things back to normal," said James, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Thanks mate" said Sirius, "I'll wait here for you and we'll go together."

"Alright" said James, closing the bathroom door.

Sirius slammed his head into his hands, he completely forgot. James loves to take long showers. He laid back on his bed, closing his eyes. He smiled. Somewhere in the tower, a girl was singing "In my Life" by the Beatles.

Girl's Dormitory: Demi

_Why, that cocky little prick. He's been a pain in the ass ever since school started. I can't believe he had the audacity to blame Lockhart for his own stupidity. Him and his blinking ego. It's so huge it's everywhere, all the time. _Demi was pacing back and forth in the dormitory (waiting for Kiaria to get out of the shower). She was so deep in her thoughts, yet she could hear Lily when she tried to slip in the room quietly. _Well, here comes the interrogation, _she thought.

"You okay?" she asked, clearly concerned.

"Oh, yes I'm just dandy. I just had a row with my best mate and I'm absolutely fine," she said covering her eyes and collapsing backward on to her bed. "Ugh, what do I do?"

"You could apologize?" suggesting Lily, sitting across from Demi on her own bed.

Demi shot up, removing her hands from her face, "what?" she said. "He's the one with the big huge ego. God, I could just shove it up his a-" she started.

"Hold up there," said Lily, "don't go saying things that you're going to regret. I understand how you feel. His ego is big, but then again look at who his best friends are."

"You mean James," said Demi nodding her head.

"Yes, and his other best friend," said Lily, nodding her head in Demi's direction.

"Are you insane?" said Demi, shooting up from the bed and striding over to her trunk. She kicked the steel lined lid open, causing it to fly off the hinge and land on the other side of the room.

"How are you that strong?" said Lily.

"I dunno," mumbled Demi, pulling out a pair of burgundy leggings and long sleeve light grey Beatles shirt.

"Just hear me out," said Lily, "go take a shower and I'll wait out here. Then we'll go down and sort it all out. Okay?"

"Mmhmm" said Demi, grabbing her towel as Kiaria, exited the washroom. They walked past each other, giving one another a little nod of the head.

Lily and Kiara sat on their beds waiting for Demi to come out. The heard the water turn on and heard their friend singing, "In my Life" by the Beatles.

"In my life I love you more" sang Demi. She closed her eyes repeating the last line once more. She could faintly hear a male voice singing along with her own. He opened her eyes and smiled. She toweled herself dry and put on her clothes. Opening up the door of the dormitory she dumped her belongings in her trunk and laid her towel out to dry. Silently she, Lily and Kiaria got up from their beds and headed back to the common room.

The girls reached the bottom staircase and saw Sirius and James sitting with the others. Demi saw James nudge Sirius, and nod in her direction. Immediately Sirius got up and walked towards her, giving her a huge hug. He let go as her damp hair soaked his shirt. "I'm-" he began.

"so" said Demi.

"Sorry" they both finished.

"Can I talk to you, alone?" asked Demi, tentatively.

"Yes" responded Sirius.

The two of them walked out of the common room. Demi followed Sirius as he walked up flights and flights of stairs, until they reached a spiral staircase.

"Astronomy tower?" she asked.

Sirius nodded and they continued until they reached the balcony at the top. Looking over the lake once, Sirius turned back to her, leaning against the rail. "What is it?"

"Do you hate me?" she asked bluntly.

"Oh, no" he said.

"Do you hate Lockhart?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Well, I don't hate him. He just seems sort of, blank-headed. You know. He doesn't really seem like your type. I'm just looking out for you, like friends should" he said.

"I know that, and I understand that, it's just . . ." she took a deep breath, "my entire life I've always had my decisions made for me. You've seen Professor Dumbledore and Aberforth fighting. It's constantly about me or Ariana." Sirius nodded for her to continue. "When I first met you guys, it really made me feel as though, I have choices, and I can make those choices. So when Gilderoy expressed his interst in me, I was flattered and excited. I thought this was an opportunity to make my own choices. But when you came between and said that you didn't like it, I guess I just lost it," she finished.

Sirius took a moment to absorb what Demi had just said. "I get it and you know what. Go. Go and make your choices yourself. I'll stand by your decisions no matter what. I'm your friend, not your life coach."

"Are you serious?" asked Demi.

"Technically yes, by choice, yes" he said.

The two of them went back to the common room feeling a lot better. Little did they know this 'happy-go-lucky' feeling wasn't going to last.


	11. Chapter 11

It was Sunday afternoon and Remus had finally returned from his home. The others went to greet him as he stepped into the common room, his bag at his side. It was quite dark (October was here, bringing in less and less daylight in the afternoons), but it wasn't until he moved out of the shadows that the others saw something wrong.

Remus' face was covered in scratches, one of them going from the side of his mouth, up to his left temple. "Hey, what's up?" he said feebly.

"What the bloody hell happened to you?" said James, leaping over the sofa towards his friend.

Remus tensed his body, he had multiple bruises and scratches across his body. The pain he'd suffer from being hugged would be too much for him. He saw James running towards him and pretended to sneeze. "Achoo!" he yelled.

James came to a grinding halt in front of Remus, "ewh."

Remus mentally patted himself on the back. Everyone knew about James' mild case of germaphobia. Just last week he had set Kiaria off to Madam Pomfrey when she said she had a terrible throat itch. "I'll ask again, how are you?" said Remus, moving past James towards the sofas.

"Fine," came everyone's response.

"Really mate, what happened?" said Sirius, his eyes open in concern as he made room for Remus to sit.

"Uh, just had a little accident," mumbled Remus, shrugging off Sirius' question.

"Are you sure, because I've had plenty of little accidents. I have yet to come out of one looking like this," said Demi sitting on the table, facing Remus.

Remus stood and picked up his bag, "don't worry. I'm fine. I just have to go visit Madam Pomfrey." They watched him make his way out of the common room and push open the door, clamber out and shut the frame behind him.

The other's looked at each other before shrugging and making their way back to their work.

Before long, it was the end of October and only one thing was on everyone's mind: Halloween.

It was Saturday, the night before Halloween and the four Gryffindor girls were sitting around a desk in the library.

"In the muggle world we dress up as witches and wizards and pretend to scare people," said Lily as she Demi, Kiaria and Alice sat in the library.

"Do you mean, like, how we dress?" said Kiaria.

"No, we have warts and what not plastered on our faces. Oh, and we carry black cats and broomsticks," Lily reminisced.

"Isn't that, you know, discriminatory?" asked Alice absentmindedly. "It's like how wizards try and dress up as muggles when we go out. Like the Quidditch World Cup" she added.

"The what?" said Lily, looking up at her friend.

"You know, the Quidditch World Cup" said Kiara.

"Huh? What Cup?" replied Lily, raising an eyebrow.

"Well it might interest you to know that wizards play a sport called 'Quidditch.' We fly on broomsticks. Two Beaters. One Keeper. Three Chasers. A beater. Ring a bell? You witnessed said extraordinary sport a couple of weeks ago?" said Demi sarcastically, causing them all to laugh.

"But you've a cup for it?" said Lily between giggles.

"Yeah, Quidditch is an international sport. Like how football is an international sport. I hear Portugal is really good," said Demi.

"But, how do you know about football?" asked Lily, shocked.

"I live in England, not under a rock," Demi replied, causing them to laugh again.

"Basically almost all the countries have a team and they compete throughout the year until we get the two finalists and they compete for the World Cup," said Alice.

"Like the superbowl" said Demi absentmindedly.

Lily whipped her head around again, "Jesus, you know about the rugby as well?"

"Yes" sighed Demi as she continued writing.

The other three looked back at their work and continued until the bell rang for dinner.

**At the same time, in another part of the castle . . . . . . **

"So, you finished your defense essay yet?" asked Sirius, lounging on the sofa in the common room.

"Nearly," said James and Remus who had their heads bent down to the parchment in front of them. "Start your's? James mumbled, as he flipped through a book sitting on the desk.

"No, not yet," Sirius said.

"Let me rephrase the question," said Remus who slammed his quill down in success, "do you plan on starting it?"

"Eh, I'll just copy off of Demi," Sirius sighed.

"And if she doesn't let you copy?" asked James, slamming his quill down, and smiling happily.

"Then I'm screwed," laughed Sirius, sitting up to make room for his friends.

"What did you write your's about?" said Remus to James.

"Red Caps. You?"

"Oh, hinkypunks," sighed Remus.

"Sirius, if you decide to do the essay, what are you going to write about?" asked James.

"I dunno, werewolves?" he said, making James laugh. Neither of them had noticed but Remus had gotten paler and paler.

"Hey, Remus. Are you okay?" asked James, who had noticed his friend's colour change.

"Mm, yeah, I'm going to go for a walk," he got up and practically ran to the portrait before Sirius or James could do anything.

"Have you noticed that he's been getting paler for weeks now?" asked James.

"Yeah, since the start of school," replied Sirius.

The two boys sat there until Peter and Frank came back from the library. "Did you see Remus?" asked Frank, settling down on the armchair.

"Yeah, he left about ten minutes ago, why?" said Sirius.

"Well he just sauntered right past Peter and I in the library and he didn't say a word. He looked like he was going to pass out" exclaimed Frank.

Peter, who was sitting with his back to the fire spoke softly, "he's been getting worse since he went home."

The others thought about this. Remus had become increasingly moody, quiet, and was lost in his own world.

Meanwhile, there was another problem in the school . . . . .

"Well Gilderoy is going to be there, you have to look nice!" said Kiaria, exasperated at her friend's behavior. The four girls were heading to the common room to put their stuff away before dinner. Kiaria, Lily, and Alice had been trying to get Demi to agree to dressing up for the Halloween party the school had decided to throw this year. So far Lily, Kiaria, and Alice knew what they were wearing but were having a difficult time trying to persuade their friend to join in.

"I don't care. I like him and all, but I don't think smashing my face with makeup and wearing uncomfortable clothing is the way to his heart" laughed Demi.

"But still," pressed Alice, "I think that with the right clothing and makeup, you'll definitely make an impression."

"No, and Lily before you try and add that I should probably wear a dress, I would like to let you know that I, personally, would like to make it to the age of 13 and not die of hypothermia," said Demi, pushing the portrait door open. They walked in and sat with the other second years. "So, what's up?" asked Demi.

"Oh nothing," said Peter.

"We can tell something's up . You're not pranking Sev are you?" asked Lily.

"No, of course not. We've better things to do that worry about Snivellus," said Sirius.

Lily ignored his comment and turned her attention towards James, "James? What's going on?"

James turned and looked at her, "It's Remus. He's been acting very odd for a while and we don't know what to do?"

"I'm sure everything will sort itself out," said Lily, patting James on the shoulder before making her way upstairs.

James instantly perked up, "she touched me!" he squealed.

"I always knew you were a girl" sighed Demi, getting a cushion to the face. She, Kiaria, and Alice got up and went after Lily, leaving the boys to their thoughts.

"So have you figured it out?" asked Alice, perching herself on her bed, across Demi.

"Well, I dunno" demi replied, strolling to her trunk and pulling piles of clothing out of it. The other girls watched and mounds of shirts, skirts, pants, and sweaters came out.

"How the hell did you fit all that into this little trunk?" said a bemused Lily.

"Undetectable extension charm" was Demi's short reply. She moved away and sat on the bed next to hers; Lily's. She looked at the girls "choose." Kiaria, Alice, and Lily walked towards the bed, which was completely submerged in clothing and began pulling out shirts and what not. After about 20 minutes they settled on the perfect outfit. Looking pleased with themselves and the choice, they made their way down to the Great Hall.

"how are you Remus," asked Lily as she sat down next to the sandy haired boy.

"M-alright" he mumbled, picking up some chicken. Lily looked over the table at Demi who was weged between Sirius and James. The look on her face: priceless.

"Oi, Sirius, can you pass me the salad?" Demi asked politely.

Sirius' eyes widened in shock as he passed her the bowl, "salad?"

"Yes, salad. That is what we call this mixture of green leafy goodness," she said sarcastically.

"Shut up, I know that, but it's rabbit food" Sirius smirked.

"Rabbit food?" asked Demi.

"Yes love. Rabbit food. As in 'not real food'" he laughed, "here have some chicken" passing her a platter of sliced meat.

"No, I'm good," said Demi pushing the platter back towards Sirius.

"Why not? Is it one of those 'girl' things?" he asked suspiciously.

"No, I just don't eat meat" she said simply.

"What?" said Sirius outraged.

"Yeah, I'm a vegetarian" she explained.

"What the bloody hell is a vegitartian" he spluttered.

"Ve-git-ari-an, means I don't eat meat."

"YOU DON'T EAT MEAT?" screamed Sirius, jumping up. Everyone in the hall stopped talking and looked at the boy, laughing. Sirius slowly sat back down. "That's like, saying you don't breathe" he huffed.

"Sirius calm down, it's a lifestyle choice, and I like it" Demi laughed.

"But how? You've probably eaten meat once" said Sirius, clearly lost for words.

"Oh are you flipping kidding me?" said Remus, slamming his hands down on the table in laughter. "Do you want her to recite everything she's ever eaten to you?"

Everyone laughed.

After dinner they headed upstairs and went to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

The morning arrived, letting sunlight wash through the windows in the girl's dormitory. Lily was, of course the first person to wake up. She did her business, and after being left alone for 2 minutes with her sleeping roommates, she woke Demi up.

Demi woke up to Lily jumping on her bed, "what on earth?" the poor, tired girl shouted, waking Kiaria and Alice up.

"I was bored and decided to wake you guys up," said Lily smiling, "I hope that's okay" she laughed.

Demi, peeled herself off of her mattress and made her way into the washroom, muttering about people and their lack of common courtesy. This made them laugh, the girl was easily irritated in the morning.

After ten minutes, Demi emerged her frizzy, wavy hair tied up into a bun. She dove for her trunk and pulled out her favorite white Weird Sisters shirt and black jeans, saving the best one for the party that evening.

After all the other girls had gotten dressed, they made their way down to the common room, and saw the other second years there. Lily was only able to tolerate James' bigheadedness for ten minutes before leaving to find Severus.

"You guys better not have a bad prank lined up for him!" she shouted as she left.

"Of course not," said Sirius, waving the girl out of the room. "Anyway, our pranks are never bad," he added.

"What is it this time?" asked Kiaria. Only last week the boys had lost Gryffindor 50 points for "accidentally" flipping the Great Hall over so everyone was sitting on the roof looking at the floor, rather than the right way around. It took Professor Dumbledore a second to fix, but the chaos that occurred took up around half an hour.

"All the second year Slytherins sit in around the same spot each day, right?" Sirius asked. The girls and Frank nodded their heads. "So we're going to plant an exploding pumpkin on the table, and when they least expect it. BOOM!" he finished laughing.

"Oh, Lily is going to be angry" said Demi.

"Yeah but she already knows it's the kind of thing we would do so she's probably already mentally prepared for it. Severus should be as well," finished James, laughing heartily. It was true. Although the two boys would prank everyone, Severus was a regular customer.

The day passed and soon it was time to get ready for the party. Kiaria, Lily, and Alice headed upstairs an hour before the party was set to start.

"Where're you lot going?" shouted James, as they got up from the intense game of exploding snap.

"To get ready," yelled Kiaria, as the door at the top of the girl's staircase shut.

James turned back to the rest of them, "who takes an hour to get ready for a party?"

Sirius shook his head, "women" he sighed.

Demi cleared her throat causing all the boys to jump, "excuse me?" she said.

"I-uh-um-I meant that-certain-um-w-w-women" stuttered Sirius, causing them all to laugh.

"Yeah, keep explaining," Demi laughed.

"How comes you're not up there with them?" asked Peter.

"What?" said Demi.

"You're a girl," began Frank.

"Last time I checked" she chuckled. "I don't need that long to get ready. Hair, a ton of makeup, pounds of jewelry, it seems like a bit much to me," she shrugged.

"That's it!" shouted Sirius, slapping his hand to his forehead, causing them all to jump. "I've been meaning to ask this for ages. How comes you hair is dark, dark blue. It's not a normal color is it?" he observed.

"No," she said, "it's not."

"Then what's up with the color?" James asked again.

"They use this harsh, burns your eyes and stings like hell. They would grab this thick, coarse paintbrush and grab you by the back of your neck and bend you over. Then they would dip the brush into the paint and stroke it all over your scalp. It tested your strength. The more you had it done, the stronger and more respected you were in the community."

"Who are they" whispered Sirius.

"People," Demi replied smiling, making her way upstairs to get ready.

"Sound like a lot of tossers" said James.

"They're actually quite . . . intelligent" she said before the door closed.

The boys looked at one another before going to get ready as well.

Girls Dormitory

Clothes were strewn around the room. Shoes lay abandoned and hair and makeup accessories were scattered on the floor. Demi picked her way through to her bed, where she had kept her outfit for the night tucked under her covers. She pulled it out. Her favorite cream colored, cable knit dress, dark brown leggings and brown riding boots. She pulled her clothing on. For a Halloween-y touch she pulled on a pair of orange earrings and orange knit legwarmers. She pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. Last but not least, she threw on a brown fedora with little badges of her favourite bands (muggle and magical). She left the rest of the girls in the room, stressing over hair clips and bracelets.

Demi was the first out of all the Gryffindors (all the Gryffindor girls left when Lily and the others did, all the Gryffindor boys left just after Demi) to get back to the common room. She slid her wand into the side of her boot and waited patiently.

She could hear the older girls in their dormitories yelling at one another about clothing and accessories. Just as she made to head down to the great hall, Sirius appeared at the bottom of the boy's stairway. "Love, you look amazing," he said.

"Er, thanks" she said, "you too." She wasn't lying. Sirius was wearing jeans, and a black shirt, his hair hanging down to his shoulders, curled and shining as a Black's hair always should. Somehow, he made a regular outfit actually look quite fancy. They waited patiently for the others to show up.

"So, think you and Lockhart will,-" he started.

"I hope so. He seems to like me, and I like him. Maybe. Keep your fingers crossed," she said.

"Oh, I will" he mumbled.

After ten minutes a flood of Gryffindors came down the stairs. Lily looked amazing in a white flowing top and grey jeans, letting her red hair down. Kiaria was wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans which went well with her brown hair. Alice was wearing a light pink sweater and a pair of black jeans, her short chestnut brown hair swept up in a ponytail. The boys all dressed the same; blue jeans and a neutral colored shirt.

McGonagall's voice was heard from the enchanted speakers in the common room, "Students and staff please make your way to the great hall."

The students let out a gasp when they saw what the teachers had done to the hall. There were floating jack-o-lanterns in the air and some placed along the tables. The walls were covered in (what Kiaria hoped) were fake spider webs. The bewitched ceiling looked magnificent. It was pitch black and dotted with stars, as though it were open to the heavens.

There was one star that shone very brightly in the north. Demi nudged Sirius, who was standing next to her, "I see you" she said pointing to the glimmering dot.

"Yep, that's me" he said laughing.

"They were pushed aside as the other students and staff came along. "Sit down and make yourselves comfortable" said Professor Sinistra, making her way up to the dais.

The Gryffindor's made their way to their house's table, settling in with the others. The chattering, which had been going on for the last few minutes ceased as Professor Dumbledore stood up to make a speech. "Now, I know we are all very excited, and I am glad to see the looks on your faces as you survey this amazing décor. I would like to thank Professor's McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sinistra and of course our gamekeeper Hagrid who have been toiling all day to make this amazing setting for the night." The students clapped and whistled in delight. "Alright. Please join me as we have our feast and then our dance." He sat down and the food appeared on the table.

"This looks amazing" said Sirius, grabbing a few chicken wings.

"You think anything to do with food is amazing, Sirius" said James from Sirius' left.

The others laughed and began to devour the magnificent food, courtesy of the Hogwarts house elves.

They poured their food out. "Remus could you please pass me the sriracha sauce?" asked Demi.

"Which one is that?" asked Remus, confused by the thirteen sauces on the table.

"It's the orange-red one by the ketchup" she said.

"Is it good?" Sirius asked, eyeing the sauce.

"Well, it is really spicy' began Demi, pouring a load of it over her veggie burger.

Sirius cleared his throat, "then what's up with the lake?" he asked pointing to her plate.

"How much you have depends on how well you handle spices," she said smirking.

"I'll make a deal. You, me and anyone else who wants to join it. We'll make it in rounds. Then eliminate people. First round, we each have to eat a tablespoon of red chili powder. Second round, an entire red chili, third round, an entire green chili, and then for the fourth round . . ." he trailed off.

"We eat a red and green chili, each dipped in sriracha sauce, with a generous coating of red chili powder on the top. Anyone who drinks water, is automatically out," she finished smiling. "I'm in."

"So am I" Sirius said.

"Me too," said James.

"Anyone else?" asked Demi. Kiaria, Lily, Alice, Frank, Peter, and Remus shook their heads.

"Alright here we go," said Sirius, shoving a spoon of chili powder in his mouth. He managed to get it down without his eyes watering at all. "Next, please."

James picked up a spoon of powder and put it in his mouth, his eyes began to water, but he never touched his goblet. He looked at Demi," your turn"

She smiled and put a heaping tablespoon in her mouth and swallowed, smiling. "Next round."

They each went through the next two rounds until in came to the last one. James got his peppers dipped them in the sauce and sprinkled some powder over them. Looking at the others he smiled feebly and stuck the peppers in his mouth. He sat there for a second until his eyes began watering, his face turned red and he jumped up, fanning his mouth. "Hot, hot, hot" he repeated, before taking his goblet from Sirius and gulping it all down. He sat down in his chair drying his eyes, "its suicide" he said, "don't do it."

Sirius grabbed his peppers, as did demi and both of them looking the other straight in the eye placed the fiery food in their mouths. Ten seconds went by, twenty, thirty, neither of them twitched. Finally when they had chewed enough, the swallowed, opening their mouths for inspection by Remus.

"All clear," he said sitting back down.

"Cheers," said Demi, clinking her goblet with Sirius. The rest of the feast passed, soon Lily moved and went to sit with Severus, and before the dance started Gilderoy made his way over to the table.

"Hi" he said, sliding into Lily's vacated seat.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Demi. _Be calm be calm,_ she told herself.

"Not much, you?" he asked, propping his chin on his hand.

"Not much" she said.

They sat their quietly, neither of them noticing the dirty looks Sirius was shooting Lockhart. Suddenly Dumbledore stood up and said, "Let the dance begin." The long tables were gone and replaced by small circular ones. There was a clear space in the middle of the hall, and suddenly the newest album by the Weird Sisters began playing. Gilderoy looked back at Demi, "want to dance?" he asked offering her a hand.

Demi looked at the floor which was filling up with students, "sure." She took his hand as they both stood up making their way to the dance floor. Soon they were swept within the crowd and couldn't be seen.

The others sat there until James got up, walked over to where Lily was and said something. A moment later Lily's mouth moved and they saw James walk back over to the table.

"What happened mate?" asked Sirius, studying James, who seemed to be a bit surly.

"I asked Evans if she wanted to dance," he sighed, sitting down.

"And?" asked Peter.

"Said no" he replied slamming his head on the table.

"Bad luck mate" said Kiaria, "how about you and I got and dance, you know, to cheer you up" she suggested.

"Sure" said James, looking a bit happier, as he and Kiaria got up and made their way over to the dance floor.

"Alice, want to go and dance?' asked Frank, getting up and moving towards her.

"Sure," she replied standing up and walking to the floor.

"I'm getting real tired of this,' said Sirius looking at Peter. Suddenly Sirius got up and walked over to a second year Ravenclaw girl, "want to dance?" he asked dully.

"Sure!" she replied, and the two of them made their way to the floor.

After half an hour, the others came back to the table, Lily was still up, dancing with Severus, who looked lightly uncomfortable. Demi and Lockhart emerged from the crowd a moment later. Alice, Kiaria, Remus (who had gone off to find Kiaria and James after Sirius had left), James, and Sirius watched as he kissed Demi on the cheek before joining his friends. She stood there for a moment, red as a tomato. Upon seeing her friends, she walked over and sat with them. " I think he likes me" she said, sitting down between James and Sirius.

"What?" said James.

"I said 'I think he likes me'" she repeated slowly.

"Oh, I know that, but you've got to be careful. We don't want him to break our little Demitria's heart" he said pinching her cheeks, making everyone laugh.

"Excuse me?" she asked laughing

"We'll you're like the sister I never had, so I believe it is my duty to take care of you" he said, puffing out his chest.

"Okay, James Proper" she said.

"Ah, nothing like a good pun slash malapropos" said Sirius, wiping a fake tear from his eye. Everyone looked at him strangely. "What?' he asked.

"The hell is a malapropos?" asked James sitting back down.

"Oh, it's when you substitute a word that means something completely different for another word that sounds similar. Walburga made me and Regulus learn all these devices when we were kids," he added.

"Why do you call your mother, Walburga?" asked Peter.

"Cause that's her name?" Sirius deadpanned.

"I think he's referring to the fact that you never refer to her as your 'mum'" said Demi.

"Well, if You-Know-Who had a child, I don't think they would call him 'dad' now would they?" he said, making the others nod. "Anyway, my brother's the family favorite now. Doesn't matter what I call my parents."

"Yeah, I saw your brother," said Kiaria, "he's the one in the emerald green shirt and black pants. Looks a bit like you." The others followed her gaze to a boy in the back corner talking to Narcissa, Lucius, Nott, and Mulciber.

"What the hell is he doing with them?" asked Sirius suddenly looking very angry.

"Calm down mate, she's your cousin" said Demi thinking of Narcissa.

"No, I mean the others. They're practically Death Eaters," he said marching over to where the five Slytherins were congregating.

"He's going to get the crap knocked out of him" sighed Peter. They watched as Sirius marched over there and began pulling Regulus away. The older Slytheirns trapped the boys in a circle, blocking Sirius from his friends' view. A few moments went by and the Slytherins shifted away leaving Sirius standing alone.

Sirius' Point of View

_I can't believe him! _Thought Sirius making his way through the crowd and over to his brother._ Why is he talking to those pieces of scum? Yeah, Narcissa I can understand, but the others are practically mini death eaters. Wait till I get my hands on him. _He walked straight over to Regulus, clapping his brother on the shoulder. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Talking?" said Regulus, "or is that not allowed" he said boredly.

"Well, im sure there are better people to converse with," said Sirius slowly pulling his brother away.

He watched as the Slytherins moved behind him, enclosing him in a circle with his brother.

"Whatcha want, cub?" said Nott, picking his nails with his wand, eyeing Sirius.

"To take my brother away from you psychos" said Sirius, raising an eyebrow.

"Fraid we can't let you do that," said Mulciber from behind Sirius.

Narcissa took Regulus' other shoulder and pulled him towards her. "I'm his older cousin" she sneered.

"Yeah older by two years" guffawed Sirius, pulling Regulus' other shoulder. "C'mon mate, do you really want to talk to these snakes?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Regulus in a small voice.

"Rhetorical question, mate" sighed Sirius.

"But if I want to talk to them I can. You can't stop me. I need to stay with the pure, it's a family belief. Mum said so herself, I shouldn't be talking to you. You're the butt of the family," he said.

Sirius let go of his shoulder, "fine, become a snake. I just thought I'd give you an option. _A better option," _he said. He watched as his brother and the others moved off out of the Great Hall. He stood there for a moment before heading back to the others.

"What was that?' asked Demi, as Sirius sat back down next to her (Lily was still with Severus).

"He's been brainwashed," Sirius sighed.

"Huh?" said the others.

Sirius got up and looked at the others. "Let's go back to the common room, I'll explain it to you there." They all got up and followed Sirius back to the Common room.


	13. Chapter 13

They had just made it to the door before . . . . BAM!

Pumpkin guts were flying around the room. Sirius and James completely forgot that they had set the enchantments to go off at exactly 11:11. They surveyed the damage. Luckily anyone sitting by the Gryffindor table or were on the dance floor weren't targeted. However Severus and Lily had been making their way over to the Slytherin table moments before.

Severus, who had been right next to the giant pumpkin, was completely covered from head to toe. Lily, who had been right behind had gotten a face full. The two looked ready to kill as they scanned the crowd for the culprits.

No one had noticed but James and Sirius had been inching their way through the doors as the chaos continued. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" yelled Lily, pointing at the two boys who looked down laughing. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" she screamed, pushing her way through the crowd with Severus in tow.

"Run for your precious lives!" yelled Sirius, grabbing James, Remus, and Demi (who had come up with the idea and taught them the enchantment) and running through the doors. The four of them made their way up a couple flights of stairs, the angry redhead and the slimy slytherin right behind them.

"Quick, get in" said Demi, as they made their way up another set of stairs. She pulled out her wand and ran through a tapestry against the wall. She heard Sirius, James, and Remus behind her. She turned around and pointed her wand at the tapestry "_duro" _she cried. They all made their way over to the tapestry and placed their ears against it, listening for their pursuers. They could make out the muffled footsteps echoing on the stone floor. They waited as the footsteps passed before letting out a sigh of relief.

"How did you know –" began James.

"Stuck in a castle for eight weeks" Demi replied in an obvious sort of way.

"Oh yeah" James said. Turning back to Sirius he asked, "So? Your brother's been brainwashed?"

"Yep, you know where I come from" replied Sirius, putting his head in his hands.

"Yeah, you're a Black" said Remus sitting with his back against a wall.

"Nope, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" recited Sirius, laughing bitterly. "Probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But my brother believes it. All of it."

"'It' here having the meaning of . . ?" asked Demi, settling down next to Remus.

"The whole load of bull my family shoved down our throats since we were kids," said Sirius, sitting across from Remus.

"What exactly have they been teaching you? I mean, you tell us about how they made you memorize schoolbooks and everything but what else is there?" asked James, sitting next to Sirius.

"My family places a lot of importance on blood purity" Sirius began, making the others squirm. "They believe that being a Black practically makes you royalty. You've probably heard the bloody family motto, '_Toujours Pur'_"he said.

"Meaning?" asked Remus.

"Always . .pure" whispered Demi.

Sirius nodded his head. "Because of our views, a number of my family members practice Dark Arts and support You-Know-Who. He came round to my house this summer," Sirius added.

"What?" said the others.

"Yes. My cousin Bellatrix invited him over for dinner a few weeks before school started."

"Did he say anything, to you?" asked James, tentatively.

"Yeah, we spoke. He asked about my friends. Asked how you were doing in particular" he looked at Demi whose eye's widened. "He asked what my favourite subjects were. Then he got to the main point. Asked why I was in Gryffindor."

"What did you say?" asked Remus.

"Said I didn't believe in the family customs. Thought it was a load of bull, really."

"You said that to his face?" asked James.

"Yeah, I don't like beating around the bush to be perfectly honest," said Sirius. "He just stood there and looked at me. He was about to say something before Walburga threw me inside my room and locked the door. Wouldn't let me out until the next morning, after everyone had gone."

"Did-did you see his face?" asked James, nonchalantly.

"Yeah. The snake-like eyes, red pupils," began Sirius.

"Chalk-white skin, long spindly fingers, slits for a nose, pale blue fingernails" finished Demi.

"You've seen him?!" said Sirius, looking her dead in the eye.

"Who do you think tortured me for those two months?" she whispered, looking straight back at Sirius. "Back to your family" she said.

"Oh right," said Sirius, who had completely lost track. "Well they're all in for the purification of blood. Save for the ones not on the tapestry."

"Tapestry?" asked Demi.

"Yeah, my mum has a tapestry of the Black family. Dates to the Middle Ages up till now. Whenever someone in the family becomes a 'blood traitor,' Walburga blasts them off the tapestry without hesitating. One of her favourite pastimes. If you've married a fellow respectable pure blood, you remain on the tapestry. I got so bad, that some family members marry their own cousins."

"What?" screeched the others.

"Yep, Walburga and Orion, my dad, are second cousins."

"That's so . . weird" said James, "not to be rude or anything."

"No, it's fine. That's how I came to the conclusion that I do not want to get married to anyone who is related to me," laughed Sirius.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?' laughed James.

"Well, first off. I'm not marrying anyone with Black hair and dark eyes" said Sirius.

"Why not?" asked Remus, through fits of laughter.

"Well, a majority of Blacks have the whole 'black hair and dark eyes thing'," Sirius said casually.

They continued sitting there before they heard the sound of students making their way back to their common rooms. "Let's go before we get caught for being out after curfew" said Demi, getting up and dusting herself off.

The others followed suit and made their way back to the common room, blending in with the crowd.


	14. Chapter 14

It was 7 in the morning when the entire Gryffindor house woke up to . . .

"Come on, the results of the Quidditch tryouts have been posted up," yelled Sirius looking at the piece of parchment that had been stuck on the notice board in the common room earlier that morning.

"You'd better not be pulling my leg" said James, pulling on a sweatshirt as he made his way over to the board. Soon the entire house was crowded around the list.

"How're we supposed to see through all these people?" asked Kiaria.

"I got an idea," said James standing up on a pouf. "Three, two, one. DOGS HAVE CLEANER TONGUES THAN PEOPLE!" The entire house immediately shut up and looked at the midget. James beaming, hopped down from the pouf and nudged his way through the crowd. In the same loud voice he read:

_Quidditch Members_

_Keeper: Don Mathews_

_Beaters: Andy Morehouse and Sirius Black_

_Chasers: James Potter, Daphne Mills and Anna Faris_

_Seeker: Demitria Dumbledore_

_First Practice: Monday, 5 o'clock_

_First Game: November 14__th__, Slytherin_

He walked back towards his friends as the crowd dispersed. "I'm sorry Kiaria, but you played really well."

"It's okay, I know I missed a few goals. Then again, there's always next year" she smiled. "Have fun playing Slytherin in two weeks."

"Actually its one week and six days" said Lily, looking at her calendar. "I forgot to ask how things went between you and Lockhart" asked Lily.

"Oh, he was pretty nice. He, erm, asked me to go with him to the Christmas party, you know the one the night before everyone leaves for break" she said casually.

"Oh, that sounds amazing!" said the three other girls.

"He'd better take care of you" said James, grabbing Demi in a bear hug.

Lily looked at James, "since when did you become 'Mr. Big Brother'?"

"Since I realized that she hasn't any siblings to look out for her" said James casually.

"Oh that's-" Lily began before checking her watch, "I've got to go meet Severus and work on our defence essays" and before James could say anything she'd gone out the door.

"I don't think she's changed her mind on you yet, dear brother" said Demi looking over her shoulders at James.

"Eh, she'll come around. With time" said James, settling down on an armchair.

"Yeah, if by 'with time' you mean never" said Sirius sitting down on the floor by the fire. "Speaking of the essay, Professor Burlough just dropped that it might be worth 5% of our marks, and I haven't started yet," he said looking at Demi.

"So?" she replied under his stare.

"So I haven't done mine, and I could use some help," he smiled, pulling Demi down next to him.

"So?" she repeated again.

"This is where you come in love. You're so intelligent, well-written, not to mention beautiful," said Sirius, turning on the charm most girls couldn't resist. "Could I copy yours?" he asked politely.

"Well, when you put it that way," began Demi "No."

"What? Please, love, I'm begging you" said Sirius, groveling on the floor by her feet.

"No, you will pick an animal and I will help you write the essay. But you are not copying me," she replied.

"Fine," said Sirius sulkily as he pulled out his copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. _They were all quiet as he scanned the pages of the book until, "Phoenix."

"Alright, here we go," began Demi, as Sirius pulled a piece of parchment and a quill out. "So . . . "

**Two hours later . . . **

"Thus, the Phoenix is a fascinating creature. It gains a XXXX rating not because it is aggressive, but because very few wizards and witches have ever succeeded in domesticating it. Phoenixes that have been domesticated are extremely loyal to their owners, and will depart to find their own paths, should their owners die, rather than finding a new master. That's it," Demi concluded as Sirius scribbled down the last of the words.

"Wow, thanks" he said giving her a hug. "By the way, what did you write yours on?"

"Vampires" she responded simply.

"A filthy, little, pale-skinned bloodsuckers" said James, from his place on the sofa.

"Actually, Vampires are quite hygienic, are regular size, admittedly some are quite buff, and they do not drain their victims of all their blood," said Demi coolly as she left the common room.

"Eh, they still are freaky" said James, making the others nod.

"So, now what do we do?" asked Sirius, putting his stuff in his bag.

"Let's roam around the castle" suggested Peter. He, Sirius, James, and Remus got up from their seats and headed for the portrait hole. "Frank, you coming?' asked Peter.

"Sorry, I still have to do my paper for Slughorn," Frank responded from his place at a desk.

"Sucks, see you later" said James, closing the door.

The four boys roamed around the halls, partaking in their favorite sport; jinxing people. They stood behind a large statue of Hollidina Fey (a witch famous for the creation of the Patronus charm). They could hear a male and female voice coming from around the corridor. James edged his way to the front of the statue, hoping to catch a glimpse of their potential victims.

"Hey it's Demi" said James, turning back to the others.

"Who's she talking to?' asked Sirius and Remus simultaneously.

"Umm" said James, craning his neck to see the other person, "Jesus, its Lockhart."

"What?" shouted Sirius and Remus, making their way past James.

"No, get back" he said pushing the two behind him, back into cover. We can get him, from here," said James a grin spreading on his face.

All together the four boys pointed their wands at Lockhart and said, "_locomotor wibbly."_

They watched as Lockhart's legs collapsed beneath him. He began screaming, waving his arms around. Demi immediately recognized the jinx, pulling out her wand she muttered, "_finite incantatum_." Lockarts immediately stood up and stopped screaming.

"Who the hell did this?" he said, looking around for the culprits.

"I dunno, but I'm sure they were just messing around," said Demi, trying to console Lockhart. He trudged off, turning at the end of the corridor. Demi watched as he left. When he was no longer in sight she walked to where the boys were standing.

"I saw that," she said calmly.

"Huh/" said the boys.

"Oh, I heard the four of you use the jelly legs jinx," she sighed.

"We were only trying to get him to leave," said James, putting an arm on her shoulder.

"Uh, excuse me? If I didn't want to talk to him, then I would have left."

"But I thought-"started James.

"Oh, stop telling me what you thought," said Demi. "I thought you considered me as your 'sister'?"

"Yeah, I do" said James.

"Would you constantly annoy the hell out of your sister?" she asked.

"No ..." sighed James.

"Then stop annoying the hell out of me. Maybe it hasn't occurred to you that I might actually like Lockhart," she demanded.

"It has Demi. I apologize on my own and on behalf of the others" said Remus quietly.

Demi walked past the others and gave his a hug, "thank you Remus for understanding." She turned back to the others, "Don't even talk to me right now." They watched as she turned down the corridor and was out of sight.

"Let's go" said Peter, dragging the others out of the corridor and onto the staircases.

_She hugged me! _Thought Remus excitedly as they made their way to the common room. It took all of his strength not to break out into a grin.


	15. Chapter 15

It was 7 in the morning when the entire Gryffindor house woke up to . . .

"Come on, the results of the Quidditch tryouts have been posted up," yelled Sirius looking at the piece of parchment that had been stuck on the notice board in the common room earlier that morning.

"You'd better not be pulling my leg" said James, pulling on a sweatshirt as he made his way over to the board. Soon the entire house was crowded around the list.

"How're we supposed to see through all these people?" asked Kiaria.

"I got an idea," said James standing up on a pouf. "Three, two, one. DOGS HAVE CLEANER TONGUES THAN PEOPLE!" The entire house immediately shut up and looked at the midget. James beaming, hopped down from the pouf and nudged his way through the crowd. In the same loud voice he read:

_Quidditch Members_

_Keeper: Don Mathews_

_Beaters: Andy Morehouse and Sirius Black_

_Chasers: James Potter, Daphne Mills and Sarah Donoghue_

_Seeker: Demitria Dumbledore_

_First Practice: Monday, 5 o'clock_

_First Game: November 14__th__, Slytherin_

He walked back towards his friends as the crowd dispersed. "I'm sorry Kiaria, but you played really well."

"It's okay, I know I missed a few goals. Then again, there's always next year" she smiled. "Have fun playing Slytherin in two weeks."

"Actually its one week and six days" said Lily, looking at her calendar. "I forgot to ask how things went between you and Lockhart" asked Lily.

"Oh, he was pretty nice. He, erm, asked me to go with him to the Christmas party, you know the one the night before everyone leaves for break" she said casually.

"Oh, that sounds amazing!" said the three other girls.

"He'd better take care of you" said James, grabbing Demi in a bear hug.

Lily looked at James, "since when did you become 'Mr. Big Brother'?"

"Since I realized that she hasn't any siblings to look out for her" said James casually.

"Oh that's-" Lily began before checking her watch, "I've got to go meet Severus and work on our defence essays" and before James could say anything she'd gone out the door.

"I don't think she's changed her mind on you yet, dear brother" said Demi looking over her shoulders at James.

"Eh, she'll come around. With time" said James, settling down on an armchair.

"Yeah, if by 'with time' you mean never" said Sirius sitting down on the floor by the fire. "Speaking of the essay, Professor Burlough just dropped that it might be worth 5% of our marks, and I haven't started yet," he said looking at Demi.

"So?" she replied under his stare.

"So I haven't done mine, and I could use some help," he smiled, pulling Demi down next to him.

"So?" she repeated again.

"This is where you come in love. You're so intelligent, well-written, not to mention beautiful," said Sirius, turning on the charm most girls couldn't resist. "Could I copy yours?" he asked politely.

"Well, when you put it that way," began Demi "No."

"What? Please, love, I'm begging you" said Sirius, groveling on the floor by her feet.

"No, you will pick an animal and I will help you write the essay. But you are not copying me," she replied.

"Fine," said Sirius sulkily as he pulled out his copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. _They were all quiet as he scanned the pages of the book until, "Phoenix."

"Alright, here we go," began Demi, as Sirius pulled a piece of parchment and a quill out. "So . . . "

**Two hours later . . . **

"Thus, the Phoenix is a fascinating creature. It gains a XXXX rating not because it is aggressive, but because very few wizards and witches have ever succeeded in domesticating it. Phoenixes that have been domesticated are extremely loyal to their owners, and will depart to find their own paths, should their owners die, rather than finding a new master. That's it," Demi concluded as Sirius scribbled down the last of the words.

"Wow, thanks" he said giving her a hug. "By the way, what did you write yours on?"

"Vampires" she responded simply.

"A filthy, little, pale-skinned bloodsuckers" said James, from his place on the sofa.

"Actually, Vampires are quite hygienic, are regular size, admittedly some are quite buff, and they do not drain their victims of all their blood," said Demi coolly as she left the common room.

"Eh, they still are freaky" said James, making the others nod.

"So, now what do we do?" asked Sirius, putting his stuff in his bag.

"Let's roam around the castle" suggested Peter. He, Sirius, James, and Remus got up from their seats and headed for the portrait hole. "Frank, you coming?' asked Peter.

"Sorry, I still have to do my paper for Slughorn," Frank responded from his place at a desk.

"Sucks, see you later" said James, closing the door.

The four boys roamed around the halls, partaking in their favorite sport; jinxing people. They stood behind a large statue of Hollidina Fey (a witch famous for the creation of the Patronus charm). They could hear a male and female voice coming from around the corridor. James edged his way to the front of the statue, hoping to catch a glimpse of their potential victims.

"Hey it's Demi" said James, turning back to the others.

"Who's she talking to?' asked Sirius and Remus simultaneously.

"Umm" said James, craning his neck to see the other person, "Jesus, its Lockhart."

"What?" shouted Sirius and Remus, making their way past James.

"No, get back" he said pushing the two behind him, back into cover. We can get him, from here," said James a grin spreading on his face.

All together the four boys pointed their wands at Lockhart and said, "_locomotor wibbly."_

They watched as Lockhart's legs collapsed beneath him. He began screaming, waving his arms around. Demi immediately recognized the jinx, pulling out her wand she muttered, "_finite incantatum_." Lockarts immediately stood up and stopped screaming.

"Who the hell did this?" he said, looking around for the culprits.

"I dunno, but I'm sure they were just messing around," said Demi, trying to console Lockhart. He trudged off, turning at the end of the corridor. Demi watched as he left. When he was no longer in sight she walked to where the boys were standing.

"I saw that," she said calmly.

"Huh/" said the boys.

"Oh, I heard the four of you use the jelly legs jinx," she sighed.

"We were only trying to get him to leave," said James, putting an arm on her shoulder.

"Uh, excuse me? If I didn't want to talk to him, then I would have left."

"But I thought-"started James.

"Oh, stop telling me what you thought," said Demi. "I thought you considered me as your 'sister'?"

"Yeah, I do" said James.

"Would you constantly annoy the hell out of your sister?" she asked.

"No ..." sighed James.

"Then stop annoying the hell out of me. Maybe it hasn't occurred to you that I might actually like Lockhart," she demanded.

"It has Demi. I apologize on my own and on behalf of the others" said Remus quietly.

Demi walked past the others and gave his a hug, "thank you Remus for understanding." She turned back to the others, "Don't even talk to me right now." They watched as she turned down the corridor and was out of sight.

"Let's go" said Peter, dragging the others out of the corridor and onto the staircases.

_She hugged me! _Thought Remus excitedly as they made their way to the common room. It took all of his strength not to break out into a grin.


	16. Chapter 16

It was the first game of the season and everyone was pumped, except . . .

"I'm going to fall off my broom," said Demi in horror. She, James, and Sirius were looking through the changing room doors and out to the pitch which was filled with everyone in the entire school. Surprisingly enough, she saw some of the Hogsmeade villagers sitting with the teachers.

"Is McGonagall supporting Slytherin?' asked Sirius, pointing to the old woman in the pointed hat. She was dressed in her customary emerald green robes, with a silver trim around her hat. "I thought she liked us?!" Sirius whispered in outrage.

"Well, considering that we blew up the entire left side of her classroom on Friday, I think there may be a change in where her loyalties lie," said Demi, eyeing the teacher with suspicion.

"As far as I'm concerned, she still supports Gryffindor," said a voice from behind the trio. They turned around and saw Professor Dumbledore, "Technically I am not supposed to show favoritism, but good luck," he said. They watched in shock as he disappeared. Demi looked back towards the teacher's booth and saw the Headmaster sitting between Professor's McGonagall and Sinistra.

"Okay then" said James, ruffling his hair and gripping his broom as though it were his life.

"C'mon you lot, let's go" said Anna, walking for the doors. The team followed her and soon were bathed in sunlight as they entered the pitch.

Madam Hooch was waiting in the middle with the case containing the snitch, bludgers and the quaffle. She tapped her wand to her throat and said "Captains, shake hands" Anna and the Slytherin Greg Montague grasped each other's arms firmly before letting go. "Mount your brooms please" said Madam Hooch, and the teams did as followed.

"Good luck," said Sirius to the other two before soaring off to join Andy.

"Luck" said James and Demi. They waited patiently until Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her whistle. Fourteen brooms rose up, high into the air. They were off.

Gilderoy Lockhart was doing the commentary for the match.

"The Quaffle is taken immediately by James Potter of Gryffindor, a new player on the tea, with rather good skill. He passes to Daphne Mills, an excellent find of Anna Faris-back to Potter and –no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Montague gains the Quaffle and off he goes- Montague flying like a crow up there- he's going to sc-no, blocked by Gryffindor's stellar keeper Don Mathews- Gyrffindor take the Quaffle, Potter in poss- now Mills-now Faris, wow, what a show- they're making their way up to Slytheirn's side and- GRYFFINDOR SCORE! "

Gryffindor's cheers filled the cold, thick, November air mangled by howls from the Slytheirns.

Lockhart continued, "Oh that's it- Gryffindor's seeker Demitria Dumbledore has spotted the snitch- she's going down-oh no, looks like she's got company- Slytheirn's seeker Thomas Martin making his way down as well, neck and neck- there they go- Dumbledore showing off her fine skills, what an incredible seeker we have, beautiful too- and she's got it! GYRIFFINDOR WINS!"

Just then something soared right past Demi and she saw a well-aimed bludger fly towards the stand. Before anyone could stop t, it made contact with Lockhart, its intended victim. Demi turned around to see who had hit it, and her eyes rested on Sirius who was leaning against his broom causally, his bag hanging over his shoulder. He saw Demi and gave her a wink before descending.

_You've got to be joking, _Demi thought looking up at the sky. She too made her way down to the grassy surface of the pitch, and only had a moment to take in the victory, before being engulfed by a mass of red and gold.

**In the common room, later on that night . . .**

It was 11:10 and the Gryffindors were still celebrating their victory over Slytherin. The entire Quidditch team was surrounded by the rest of the students. Even some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs managed to get into the celebration. Demi was talking to some seventh year Gryffindor before Sirius walked over and put an arm around her shoulder, flicking his hand at the man, signaling him to leave. He promptly stood up and walked away. "So, people still praising you?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's gotten a bit wearing if you know what I mean" she said stifling a yawn.

Anna, who had been back-to-back with Sirius turned around and said, "I hope you realize that the other matches won't be this easy. Slytherin is pretty thick, but when we play Ravenclaw, it'll be tough. They've always got a strategy. And a back-up for that strategy, and a back-up for that strategy, and a back-up for that strategy, and so on." They observed her. Her eyes were slightly glazed and she was swinging around a bottle of firewhisky.

"You'd better go easy on that stuff," said Demi, pointing to the bottle.

"Oh, dearie. It's tough stuff" Anna replied, making her way over to Andy who had been looking over at her for the past two hours.

"That it is," said Sirius.

"You've drank before?" asked Demi, laughing.

"Yep, Walburga wouldn't feed me and I was locked up in my Uncle Cygnus' room and I was really parched. SO I dug around and I found a couple of bottles, really old ones" Sirius began as they walked over to sit on the steps of the boy's staircase.

"Oh god," said Demi, putting her head in her hands, laughing.

"Yeah. Apparently the longer it's been left to mature, the stronger it gets," he smiled.

"Did-did Walburga find out?" Demi asked between laughs.

"Yeah. Needless to say, I wasn't allowed to go on any family excursions for the rest of the year."

"Jeez, so you've been a rebel since you were born?" Demi observed.

"Yeah, I guess so," he laughed.

They sat their peacefully and were shortly joined by Remus, who settled himself on the other side of Demi. "How's our star-seeker?" he asked.

"Tired and a little light headed," she said.

"Aw, you can't leave the party just yet, people might assume you're a boring person," Remus laughed.

"It might interest you to know that Lily went up to bed an hour ago, so unless you want me to tell her what you said," Demi laughed.

"No, um, it's okay" Remus stuttered, as the other two burst into laughter.

"Oh, really, you two kill me!" said Demi laughing, wiping tears from her eyes.

"It comes naturally love" Sirius smilied.

"Yeah, I Kn-kno-know" said Demi yawning, "Ugh, I'm so tired, and I've a mountain of arithmancy to do tomorrow, I should go up, but it'll look bad." She places her head on Remus's shoulder, and closed her eyes, a couple of seconds went by and the two boys peered at their friend from her curtain of blue hair.

"She's asleep" they said.

"Well, do you think we should wake her?' said Sirius.

"No, leave her here, I don't want to wake her, she looks so peaceful" said Remus.

"Oh, but doesn't it bother you?' asked Sirius sharply.

"No, I don't mind," said Remus casually.

He watched as Sirius shot up and joined the remaining Gryffindors. Remus looked back at Demi who was still asleep. _She looks so cute . . . . ._


	17. Chapter 17

"Oh come on Dad, that's bang out of order!" whined Demi.

"I know, but until now I was always here for Christmas, but as your legal guardian, I can't just have you wandering around the castle," said Dumbledore calmly.

"All the other students do it" Demi pointed out.

"The death eaters are planning to attack Hogsmeade near Christmas, I cannot have a school full of students nearby," he said finally.

"Well, I can stay with Uncle Aberforth, can't I? She asked tentatively.

"Well, no. He won't be here. We've decided to evacuate Hogsmeade as well. He has some stuff to do, for the Order."

"Of course," Demi grumbled. "How about if I stayed with Lily or James? They're both going home and they've both asked me if I wanted to go with them."

"Go ahead. Just let me know where you are before the vacation starts and I'll keep in touch with you," said Dumbledore. Demi nodded and headed down the gargoyle staircase and back to the common room, where she and her friends were before Dumbledore had called her down.

The month of November went by as December brought in cold, snow, wet conditions. Sirius was his usual excited self. Christmas was one of the two things that brought him the most joy in life, the other was . . .

"There's so much food to eat during the holidays" he sighed happily. "Tarts, cakes, puddings, birthday cake" he emphasized glancing over at Demi who laughed.

"Jesus, "I'm surprised you're so slim, what with the amount of food you shovel into your mouth" she said, making the others laugh.

"Well, Walburga keeps me locked up and never feeds me for days at a time, so when you think about it, I should be glad I don't die of starvation" he pointed out.

"Oh, er, sorry" said Demi, blushing.

"No, it's not your fault. She's a bi-lack" he said switching words midway. Everyone laughed. "No but really, love. It's not your fault. Put it this way. When we grow up, I'll live with you and you can cook enormous piles of food for me."

"Hey, I'm not going to be a housewife!" Demi chided, smacking Sirius over the head with a newspaper.

"Then what do you want to be?" asked Lily, who was curious as to what wizards do once they graduate school.

"An Auror" Demi said.

"That's too dangerous!" said Remus, Sirius, and James.

"Excuse me?" said Demi coolly. "Need I remind you that I managed to get away from 'Voldemort's finest'?" she said.

The three boys looked at her and sighed. "Fine, as long as you're safe."

"Since when did all of you care so much about me?" she asked laughing.

James piped up, "well, I'm here because you haven't any siblings, and neither do I, so you can be the sister that I never got, and I can be the brother you never want" he said wisely.

"But surely your parents want more than just one child?" asked Demi.

"Well, they're always out on duty. They never really have time for me or each other, so I think another child is out of the question. That is until things settle down."

"Oh, that sucks" said Demi, giving James a hug. "I promise to be the best worst fake sister in the world." They all laughed before Demi turned serious, "I'm sorry James, I can't come to your house over the winter break. I'm staying with Lily. Maybe next year?"

"What, my sister is leaving me?" James said shocked.

"Well, she asked me first," began Demi

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. Peter, Remus, and Sirius are coming over to mine for the break, just so you know where to find them to send them stuff," James said. "Feel free to pop over, If you've time. You too Evans," he added turning to Lily and giving her a wink.

Lily looked up from her table and rolled her eyes, giving James a dirty look, "whatever." She turned to Demi, "The train leaves on Friday, at 5pm. My mum and dad will be picking us up and driving us home. I think Petunia might be there" she added distastefully.

"Oh, Petunia. Still mad, is she?" said Demi, getting up from her spot on the sofa, and pulling up a chair next to Lily.

"Yeah, I think she hates me even more, if that's possible."

"Nonsense. There's nothing to be mad about. She should grow up. How much older is she than us anyway?" asked Demi.

"About a year," said Lily casually.

"What grade is she in? Like muggle school wise?" asked Demi

"Grade Eight" sighed Lily. She took a look at her work and began packing her stuff away. "I'm done for the night. See you lot in the morning." She got up and left for the dormitory.

"Why doesn't Lily's sister like her?" asked James.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm the right person to tell you that James" said Demi, sinking back next to James.

"Please? I'll act like I don't know? C'mon, do siblings hide things from one another?" he said.

"Fine. Petunia doesn't like Lily because Lily's a witch and Petunia is not."

"That's it? That's the big secret?" they all said incredulously.

"Well, it goes a bit deeper than that. See, Lily's parents kind of make her feel a little more special. I mean, Muggles fantasize about magic, many don't know it exists. When her parents found out, I guess Petunia felt a little resentful towards her sister. On top of that Severus lives near them and he and Petunia hate each other," she finished.

"Oh," said James.

"Sucks" interjected Sirius.

"A lot" agreed Remus. "So did you two think of a nice parting gift for Severus?"

"Well, no" said James.

"We can't seem to find anything, thoughtful enough" said Sirius. He got up and sat in front of Demi, resting his back against her legs.

"Thoughtful, eh? What do you want to do? Send him off with nightmares?" she laughed, as she began toying around with Sirius' hair. "How is it so soft?" she asked running her fingers through it.

"It's a Black thing. Now back to the problem at hand, Snivellus' gift. He needs something to remember us by. Something that looks, sounds or smells like a prank."

"What do you want farting Christmas décor or something?" said Demi, laughing. The two boys whipped their heads around at her.

"Farting-" began James.

"Décor?" finished Sirius. They both had identical evil grins on their faces.

"Jesus, look at what you've done" said Remus.

"Me? You asked," said Demi.

They sat there in silence until . . .

"Why is my hair in pigtails?" asked Sirius.

"What? Your hair is so soft and silky. Like girl hair" said Demi absentmindedly, undoing the braids.

"Girl hair? Oh you wait," said Sirius. He turned around and pulled Demi off the sofa. Immediately he ran his fingers through her hair, "your hair is much softer."

"Yeah right" said Demi, stroking her own hair. "Mine is blue, curly as hell, and well, it never sits right. Yours on the other hand is soft, silky and shiny."

"Nonsense love, your hair is beautiful," said Sirius.

"Aww, thanks" sad Demi. She glanced up at the clock and said, "time for bed. Night everyone." She bent down and tousled Sirius' hair, "thanks for the compliment, love" she said, using the nickname he'd been using on her since the year started.

"Anytime" he laughed.

The others, however, looked at one another. They were all thinking the same thing, _how long until they get together?_

Remus, however was in his own world. The rest of the guys were catching on to him and his detours every month._ How long till they find out?_


	18. Chapter 18

"Okay, so what do I take with me?" Demi asked heaving her trunk onto her bed.

"Well, what do you need?" asked Lily, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Umm, I'm going to take a wild guess and say clothing?" Demi said, throwing a bunch of clothes into the trunk. Lily watched in horror as the mountain within the pile grew bigger and bigger.

"Okay, can you at least pack nicely?" asked Lily, coming over and folding up the pile.

"Well," said Demi as she pulled out her wand. She made a poking gesture towards the pile and the two girls watched as the flop of clothing sorted itself out into the trunk. With another wave of her wand the lid of the trunk snapped shut. "Done," announced Demi, flopping backwards onto her bed, procuring a magazine from beneath the folds.

"You never fail to amaze me" said Lily, laughing as she laid down next to her. "How did the Christmas dance with Lockhart go?" she asked.

"It was good, except Sirius showed up halfway, and you can imagine what happened" Demi replied putting her hands over her face.

"Oh, well what did he do after he graced both of you with his presence?" Lily asked, imitating Sirius' speech.

"He asked me to dance, and Lockhart being the gentleman he is, moved out of the way and let him dance with me. He left a couple minutes after and was pretty annoyed. He asked some Hufflepuff girl to dance, but was glaring at Lockhart and I for about 20 minutes before leaving entirely." Demi got up and walked over to the door of the dormitory, "I think that everyone is going to the carriages."

The two girls made their way down to the common room talking about the stuff they would do once in the muggle world. They made their way to the carriges and settled in with the others who were talking about the same topic.

"So Evans, what are you doing for the summer?" said James, casually, turning all his attention from his conversation with Sirius to Lily.

"Um, relaxing with my friends," she started. Seeing the look on James' face she added, "people I like."

The other laughed as James turned back to look across the carriage to Demi and Sirius. "Take care of yourself, alright?" said James to Demi, who nodded her head. "We don't want our little blueberry getting mushed."

They all laughed, Demi looked at Sirius who was sitting next to her, "are you okay?" she asked. He looked a little pale.

"m fine" mumbled Sirius, not looking at her.

"You sure?" she asked again.

"Yes, I'm bloody sure. Now go and interrogate someone else."

Demi looked slightly taken aback by his response. She regained her composure before asking, "and who "would you like me to interrogate, Mr. Black?" she said coolly. Everyone knew that Sirius hated his last name as it put him with the rest of his family.

Sirius looked up, slightly angry. While the others cowered in fear, Demi looked him right in the eyes. "I have no idea why you are mad at me, but the least you could do is act like you aren't so we can all leave each other happily."

They all waited for Sirius' response, but just as he opened up his mouth, the carriage skidded to a halt. I guess we're at the station" said Remus, breaking the silence.

While the others got their stuff and headed towards the train, Demi and Sirius hung back for a moment. "Why are you mad at me?" asked Demi, this time more sincerely.

"I'm just tired. James, Remus, Peter, Frank and I were so caught up in the plans for the holidays that we didn't sleep. And you know how I like my sleep."

Demi nodded her head, "I agree with you there, sleep is a magical thing."

They got their bags and made their way up to the platform towards the others. "So, what are you planning to do?" asked Demi.

"Well, besides the usual, you know being idiots, not much else" said Sirius smiling.

"Frank, where're you headed?" asked Alice.

"Ugh, it's my cousin's wedding up in Maine and I honestly don't know anyone there, it's going to be a nightmare." The others laughed at the boy's bluntness. "So what about you Alice?"

"Um, headed over to my home, just relaxing. The usual. Kiaria?" said Alice.

"Eh, same as you. Demi? Lily?" asked Kiaria, as they found a compartment.

"Well, purely the muggle traditions as we can't use magic. Boy this'll be tough for you, wont it Demi?" joked Lily.

"I bet I can go without using magic the moment I step over your family's threshold," said Demi, sitting between James and Lily.

"Well, I'm going to go find Severus. He's headed off to visit his grandmother for the entire holiday and I want to give him his present now," said Lily, getting her rucksack and excusing herself from the group.

"Snivellus," said James in an annoyed tone.

"Well well, it seems our James Potter has taken quite a liking to our Miss Evans" said Kiaria.

"What?" said James incredulously.

"Nothing" said Kiaria, leaning back into her seat. They waited for her to continue but realized the poor girl fell asleep.

"How do people do that?" said Sirius.

"Like this," Demi pinched Sirius' left ear, hard. The other watched as he sank back into the seat and sighed.

"You made him shut up!" exclaimed Remus and James. "Yu must teach us. He never shuts up" added Peter.

The ride to King's Cross was more peaceful. Sirius and Demi had their usual "before the break" scuffle and reconciled two minutes after. The others laughed at the topic this time around.

"But if I punched you, your nose would break" said Sirius.

"No it wouldn't" said Demi, "Unless you punch like a 2 year old baby."

"I punch way harder than that" said Sirius.

"Oh yeah, punch me" said Demi.

"What?" said Sirius.

"Are you deaf? I said: punch me."

They yelled back and forth till Sirius punched her on the nose. The others braced themselves for the sickening crunch and the squirt of blood, but it never happened.

"The hell?" said Sirius, flexing his hand in the light. "Why aren't you bleeding?"

"Cause it didn't hurt" said Demi smiling.

They continued to have a fight until Sirius pulled out the big guns, "you completely defied the laws of physics."

"Do you even know what physics is?" asked Remus, looking over the top of his book.

"Yes I do, and she just broke a law."

The fight continued until Lily returned a few minutes before the train pulled into the station. "Get ready, I think Petunia might be with them."

Demi laughed a little before saying, "she's not that bad, is she?"

"No, but don't expect any flowers or a welcome hug from her."

They felt the train pull into the platform and grabbed their bags. Before walking through the barrier, they all turned to one another, "merry Christmas."

Sirius grabbed Demi's arm and pulled her towards him, "happy birthday," he whispered, before letting go of her and joining the others where they were standing with James' parents.

Lily looked at Demi curiously before linking arms and walking straight through the barrier.


End file.
